I'm Here
by Blaza
Summary: Pitch finds himself trapped in a young girl's room as punishment for what he's done to the children of the world. Pitch quickly finds that the very thing that is meant to punish him might just be for the best, and not a punishment at all. This story is mostly based off the movie world, but with some of the book world thrown in (I hope that's not breaking any rules)
1. Prologue

Prologue:

"You can't think that I'll stay there for very long. Little girls don't believe in the boogeyman forever." Pitch snapped irately to the sky. The moon loomed high and large, contradicting everything Pitch said.

"Don't think some child will change what I am." Pitch said angrily. "I'll go, but believe me, Old Friend, nothing will change but that little girl. She'll turn into something darker in my presence, and I know how much you treasure pure children." Pitch turned and dissolved into the dark.

"I don't know if there's anyone out there," Little Cally Moonborne prayed into the moonlight. "But I would appreciate if someone would listen please." She closed her eyes tightly because somehow she knew that prayers worked better when you had your eyes closed. "I would like someone to come and watch over me. Sometimes there are scary things and I would like someone to help me be brave please." Cally resituated herself on her little knees next to her bed and clasped her hands together because she had remembered that was important too. "I don't need an angel either, if you don't have any to spare. Tyler at school said there aren't angels anyways and that if there were they wouldn't help a stupid little girl like me…and I," Cally looked up as a slight summer breeze ruffled her curtains. "I just don't want to disappear like the little girl on TV did. Daddy said she was kidnaped and that bad things happened." Cally closed her eyes again not wanting to cry and not sure what else a seven year old could say to God, or even if God was there listening. She wanted to believe, she really did, but Mommy never said she had to. Daddy said that he stopped going to church a long time ago. Cally thought maybe God had disappeared. All she knew was she needed something to believe in. She didn't know that she needed someone to believe in her too.

Pitch stood in the shadows of the little girl's room. She was praying beside her bed, eyes clamped shut and hands pressed together.

"Is this what you wanted me to see?" Pitch snorted at the moon that hung outside the window like a ghost. "A little girl looking for God?" Pitch chuckled darkly.

"I promise I'll never stop believing if you send someone." She said wiping at the tears that were leaking from her little shut eyes. "I'll believe forever, I promise." Pitch frowned at this oath. She was too young to know what "forever" meant, let alone to swear something forever. Pitch watched her get up off of her knees and pull down her little lacy-white nightdress. She then turned to the shadow where he stood and looked straight through him. Pitch cursed under his breath, he used to be powerful, feared, now look at him, forced to babysit some _child._

"I hope you're happy, Old Friend." Pitch lamented to the moon as he slipped behind a cloud. The little girl climbed into her bed and sat there watching the dark for something to appear, waiting for some answer to her ridiculous prayer. When she finally fell asleep, cast away from wakefulness by the Sandman's golden sand, Pitch waited and touched the gold, turning it black with a nightmare. It was all he could do to pay the moon back for his pain. Pitch wouldn't change who he was for anyone, let alone a small girl who was so quick to so quick to nightmares.


	2. Chapter One

Chapter One: Growing

So Pitch was confined to Cally Moonborne's room. He found himself unable to leave no matter how hard he tried. So this was his punishment, he mused as he watched Cally, invading her dreams each time she slept because it was the only enjoyment he could get trapped in this room. Sometimes during the day he'd make her believe that there was a monster under the bed, or in her closet, or outside her window, but she was never afraid for long. The only time he could keep her frightened was in her dreams, little girls like to dream of happy things, rainbows and puppies and sunshine, so Pitch kept her dreaming of rain and demons and monsters and darkness. Years and years of darkness.

By the time Cally was nine she had stopped telling her mother that she had had a nightmare. Now she called them adventures, like in a movie when the hero got lost in the dark forest. Pitch grinned as he whispered into her nights that she wasn't the hero in this tale. She just shooed the thought like an annoying fly. Pitch often frowned when she was so easily able to dismiss him.

"Mom, can I ask you something?" Cally asked one day while her mother was helping her clean out her closet of clothes and old toys.

"Yes sweetie?" Her mother responded. Cally had her mother's dark hair and waves, but where her mother's hair lay nicely and frizz-free, Cally's was a tangled mess of strands. Cally didn't have her mother's dark eyes though. Cally's eyes were light like the sky.

"Is the house haunted?" Cally replied seriously. Her mother stopped.

"Why would you ask that?" Her mother responded concerned. Her mother had been concerned about her daughter ever since she reported continuing nightmares. Even now when she called them adventures, her mother knew that it wasn't what little girls were supposed to dream about.

"Because sometimes, in the shadows I see something moving about." Cally said. She didn't sound frightened exactly, just confused. Pitch perked up, could she be seeing him?

"When does this happen?" Her mother asked sitting back on her heels to look at her daughter.

"Um…when it's bedtime. And sometimes I feel like someone is looking at me." Cally said as she continued to pull old toys out of the bottom of her closet.

"It's probably just your brain playing tricks on you honey, I wouldn't worry about it too much." Her mother said. Pitch watched the pair intently as Cally nodded. She looked back at the corner where Pitch normal stood. Pitch followed her gaze, amazed. Maybe he wasn't as invisible as he so feared.

"Probably." Cally smiled then and they returned to work.

Over the next few weeks Cally stared at the corner harder than she had before as if she were trying to prove that there was nothing there. Pitch would move out of her line of sight and then made a noise elsewhere, a floorboard creaking, the ceiling popping in the cold, when she'd turn to the noise he'd go back to the corner and wait. Pitch didn't know what he was waiting for, but he was waiting for something.

One night during the summer Cally was ten, she sat there in her bed staring intently into the shadows. This had become a normal thing for her to do, but this night was different.

"I know you're there. Show yourself." She commanded. Pitch laughed at her. He was still as invisible as ever to her, he couldn't force himself into her sight.

"I am showing myself to you, you foolish little child." Pitch sneered.

"My name's Cally Moonborne." She said watching the darkness as hard as she could. "And I just want to know if you're real or not." Cally had her knees drawn up to her chest. "Otherwise I'm crazy, aren't I?" She watched the dark for a long time.

"You're not crazy." Pitch said for some reason. Standing there stoically in the space she always looked. Cally rested her head on her knees and watched the empty dark until her eyes began to close.

"I'd be your friend, you know." She said peering into the shadows at Pitch. He paused. She laid back against her pillows and closed her eyes, and she began to dream. Pitch walked over to her bed and watched her sleep. She didn't start dreaming right away and when she did he stayed out of the dream. He simply watched as she dreamed of bigger things than a ten year old should have been able to. She dreamed of mountains and flying and clouds and beauty and rain. She smiled in her sleep and rolled over so that her face was smiling at Pitch. He frowned down at her sleeping form, alarmed, and slashed at the dream. The rain became a storm, she was no longer able to fly, the mountains crumbled and burned and she could find nothing beautiful. Her smile faded as Pitch retreated into his corner to watch his good work.

Yet somehow he felt that he had made the wrong choice.

Pitch sat in that corner and watched as Cally grew. He watched the pink curtains get replaced by dark purple ones. He watched her toys become uninteresting to her and her stuffed animals disappear. The pink frilly childhood changed into a pleasantly dark adolescence. She hung pictures on her walls of mountains now. He watched her turn eleven and twelve and thirteen, and every so often she'd make remarks directed at him. Sometimes she's tell him about her day or how some kids at school were being mean to her, or how she still believes in Santa even if he doesn't exist like Tyler had told her. She poured her life out onto her bedroom floor, somehow still hoping there was someone there to hear her. Pitch laughed at such a foolish, childish, thought.

But he still listened to every word.

When Cally turned fifteen, Pitch began to wonder if he'd ever be free of her room. She was only barely a child now, and it had been a long time since she'd been afraid of the dark. He should be free to go, she'd outgrown the boogeyman. Yet, each day when she got ready for bed and turned out the light, she'd sit in bed and speak to the shadows that concealed Pitch. He found that he enjoyed their one sided talks now, if only as a way to break his solitude. He sometimes replied when she asked questions but she never seemed to hear him. Pitch had grown used to that.

"You know, if you ever want to talk, I'm here." Cally whispered one night. Pitch looked at her questioningly across the dark.

"You still don't know I'm here." He replied tartly.

"I'll listen, I'm a good listener." Cally had her knees drawn up to her chest and her head rested against her upturned knees. Pitch just gave her a dark look.

"How can you listen if you can't even see me?" He demanded. "No one can see me!" He bellowed, suddenly angry at everything. "I used to have power, greater power than you could imagine. I had people's fear! I controlled the nightmares, I almost controlled the world!" Pitch was yelling at her passive face now, barely a foot from her. If he extended his hand he could touch her. Something about that though calmed him back to his normal sulky self. He stormed off to his corner again.

"Goodnight." Cally whispered as she laid down and pulled the covers up to her chin. "Sweet Dreams." She added with a yawn. Pitch snarled at the thought. How could she wish him, _the King of Nightmares,_ sweet dreams when he was the reason for all of her bad dreams?

"You're a fool." Pitch snapped. Only the moon knew who the comment was truly directed to.

One day Cally brought Tyler home. They talked long into the night and eventually fell asleep under her covers. Pitch watched them with distaste. Cally hadn't told him about her day and Pitch was angry that this Tyler child had taken that from him. When Tyler began to dream, Pitch made him an extra special nightmare. Pitch chuckled darkly, pleased with himself. The youth would remember this nightmare for years. The boy has sandy hair and dewy green eyes.

"Pitiful child." Pitch added as he resettled into his corner. "She could handle nightmares like that…" Pitch laughed again, absurdly proud of his captor.

Tyler came around more and Cally told him that she liked him sleeping over because it helped her to not have terrible nightmares. This angered Pitch because the more Tyler came over, the less Cally spoke to him and watched the shadows. Never mind that Pitch wouldn't give her nightmares when it was so easy to terrify that stupid boy.

One night Tyler kissed Cally and she so innocently blushed. Tyler kissed her again, and she let him for a time. Until he tried for more. Cally told him to stop, she pushed at him. Pitch felt anger well up inside of his chest as he watched.

"Leave her alone you stupid child!" Pitch bellowed at the boy's deaf ears. Cally yelped as Tyler pushed her beneath him. Pitch stormed over to the bed and yelled again for the boy to get off of Cally. But neither of them could hear. Cally turned her face away from Tyler, looking straight through Pitch, as the boy pulled at her pajama pants that she tried to hold up. Tyler had coaxed her out of her shirt already. She was crying as she watched the cloudless night sky and crescent moon.

"You're not allowed to make her cry!" Pitch screamed, angry for more reasons than he knew. "Only I am!" And when Pitch lashed out against the boy, his hand connected with flesh and knocked him from Cally's bed. Tyler looked up in fear as he saw the beast from his every nightmare. "You will leave this place and never come back. You will never touch this girl again." Pitch commanded poised to spring at the child. The boy cowering on the floor nodded, gathered up his shoes and discarded t-shirt and made a mad dash for the door.

Cally was sitting on her bed with her knees drawn up to her chin, crying into the blankets that were bunched up against her shirtless chest, unaware of the terror that had made Tyler flee.

"He's gone now." Pitch said standing straighter again. Cally just kept crying, unable to hear him. Pitch roared in anger. "So I can talk to that _filth_ but not to her?" He demanded of the moon. The moon had nothing to say in response. Cally cried and cried, long into the night. He parents weren't home tonight, so she had the house to herself and her tears. And Pitch. She had Pitch too.

Pitch sat on the edge of Cally's bed and watched her cry, still bunched up in the most comforting position she knew. He moved to touch her head, a sign of comfort? He didn't think too much about his own motives. His hand dissolved right through her head and he pulled back from the failure, but Cally looked up then and stared right at him. Only she couldn't see the look of surprise etched on his face. His mouth hung open and his eyes were wide, and he held that pose because he was suddenly afraid to move for fear she'd see him.

"Please…" Cally said into the dark. Pitch could only stare as he slowly regained his composure. "Please, if you can…" Cally wiped at her face and red eyes. "Show me you're real. I know you can hear me." She watched that place his face took up and he wondered if the air there looked any different to her. Pitch, not knowing what else to do, slowly extended his arm and ran a single finger gently down her cheek. Not enough pressure to go through her, but just enough that the line between them temporarily blurred. Cally's eyes widened suddenly. "I…" She smiled now. A smile that lit up her whole face, her whole being, and some distant little thing inside of Pitch as well. "I felt it." She laughed right out loud, filling the dark with a reverberating sound that settled upon them and scared away whatever monsters had been left by the boy that had tried to use her.

She didn't see him lift his lips into a strange little smile, but she knew he was there and that was enough. "Goodnight Old Friend." She smiled, finally able to lie down. Cally fell asleep quickly and Pitch watched her dream for a while before gingerly pressing a single finger into her dream. He didn't turn it into a nightmare like he normally did, instead he turned it into an adventure for her. A real adventure. All he wanted was for her to have a piece of him to touch. Some part of him to hold on to.

That fall something terrible happened. Cally didn't come into her room. He couldn't hear her elsewhere in the house either, as sometimes she'd fall asleep downstairs in the living room or on her parent's bed. Pitch stood by the door of her room and listened for her, but he could hear nothing but her mother cry.

Pitch waited for another day, and Cally still didn't come home. That afternoon, her mother came into the room and sat upon her daughter's bed crying.

"Where did you go Cally?" She mumbled holding Cally's pillows to her chest. "Where did they take you?" She asked again. Take her? Pitch felt that anger growing in his chest again. Someone had taken his Cally away from him? They would pay in whatever way he could make them. He glanced back at Cally's mother and went to the window where the moon hung like a streetlight in the distance, barely there in the dying light.

"I have to find Cally, Old Friend." Pitch said stepping up onto the window's ledge. "I dare you to try to stop me." And he dissolved into the night as he stepped out of the window, as if the locks on his prison had sprung free.

It didn't take Pitch long to feel Cally's fear. He would have felt it from across the globe if he'd had too. But she was closer than that.

Pitch crept into the dark place Cally was being held. There were men there, surrounding her where she sat with her knees brought up to her chest. She wasn't wearing any shoes and her shirt was ripped. Pitch frowned at the scene. They had hurt her and they would pay.

Pitch felt his power began to unfurl and he grinned feeling like his old self for the first time in years. One man began to look behind him, hearing Pitch knocking on the metal walls.

"What was that?" Another asked as Pitch knocked louder and made footfalls upon the floor. Cally didn't seem to notice their unease, she just sat there curled up on herself hoping that they would finally leave her alone.

"Tyler!" One man called and the foolish boy that had hurt her before came out from the other room. Pitch sneered at the sight of the child. "Go check the hallway." The man commanded.

"Oh yes," Pitch purred. "Come out into the dark." Tyler looked at the dark then back to the man who had commanded him, eyes wide.

"Why?" Tyler said, the fear he knew to feel clear in his voice.

"Because I said so!" The man bellowed and pushed the boy forward. It wasn't hard for Pitch to make the boy squirm as he approached the dark hallway. Tyler glanced around briefly before calling back to the others.

"There's nothing her-…!" Tyler's voice was cut off by Pitch throwing him down the hall. The boy got to his feet and looked around. "Who's there?" He questioned shakily.

"Your worst nightmare," Pitch replied standing out of the darkness. Pitch knew those were the words that'd scare the boy most, though he knew not where the words came from. Tyler screamed and ran for the door. Another man ran into the hall, wielding a knife, as another covered him with a hand gun. Pitch scared the knife wielder off easily enough. The man with the gun shot at him as soon as he saw the dark figure laughing from the shadows. The bullets ricocheted and made the other men wish for cover and light. Pitch found it easy to scare the last few men away and soon he was alone with Cally, who was still curled up in the corner somewhere between crying and sleeping.

"They're gone now." Pitch said softly. Cally didn't stir. Pitch moved closer and kneeled down by her. "Cally?" He tried again. He reached out to her and his hand passed right through her. So he was still invisible to his imprisoner. Pitch scowled before remembering the one time she had felt him. He ran one finger down her damp cheek, the line between them blurred. She looked up, surprised.

"Hello?" Cally asked gingerly into the dark.

"You have to stand up now." Pitch said although he knew she couldn't hear him. He ran a hand gently up her arm and she shivered, but she stood.

"Why can't you talk to me?" Cally asked blindly into the dark.

"Come now, follow me." Pitch said touching her cheek again, ignoring her question. She looked that way and then back in front of her. "Just believe you know where you are going." He commanded her. She just stood there and looked rather small amongst the shadows. He touched her hand, trying to grab it. She held it out, surprised.

"What is it?" Cally asked. She was a smart girl, she'd figure it out. He touched her hand again and left the feeling in the direction he knew she needed to go. He grabbed at her hand again and she moved to keep the contact.

"Good, now move forward." It was slow at first but Cally held onto the feeling of his hand on hers and he led her out into the night.

Cally looked even smaller in the moonlight. She turned around, trying to see where she was, but it was dark and she was afraid. He could taste her fear on his tongue, and he was surprised it didn't taste like the others'. The others' fear had tasted sweet, Cally's tasted metallic, and he wasn't sure what that meant, fear had never tasted like that to him before. Pitch frowned as he felt a pull that was dragging him away from her.

"NO!" He bellowed, trying to hold onto Cally. His hands couldn't keep contact with her. He needed to have her get home so that things would go back to the way they were. He needed her to smile into the dark again. "Let me go!" But the moon ignored his pleas and sent him back to his prison in the shadows in the corner of Cally's room. Pitch roared at the moon, demanding release from this prison, but the moon ignored his cries.

It took Cally awhile, but she eventually made it back home. She knocked on the door, but her parents were fast asleep, both having been exhausted from the search and she was weak from the past two days. She couldn't seem to make enough noise. Cally looked around, trying to remember where the hidden key was now, as her parents moved it every so often. Once she located it under a flowerpot, she gently let herself into her home.

Cally was crying again, from relief or from the adrenaline fleeing from her tired limbs she wasn't sure. Pitch heard her walk across the living room towards the stairs. He stood at her door and watched her pass him. She was heading for her parents' room. He watched her pause at their door and adjust her tattered clothes. It was almost dawn as she pushed the door open and gingerly spoke, waking her parents from their sleep. "Momma? Daddy?" Her voice was small in the dark.

Pitch went back to his corner and sat in the shadows. He could hear Cally and her parents talking in the other room in happy, fevered voiced and he knew he had done something new. It was a good thing he had done, even if he did so selfishly. The moon sat outside Cally's window and Pitch ignored the man's approval. Pitch still felt as if he had lost somehow.

Cally came into her room alone a short while later and Pitch sat up, for some reason hoping she had come back for him. Cally went to her closet without even glancing in his direction and pulled out a sweatshirt that she quickly pulled around her bare shoulders and zipped up over her broken shirt. She stopped at the door and turned around as if she'd forgotten something. Pitch heard her parents moving around downstairs.

"They're taking me to the hospital." She whispered. "I don't know how you did it, but, I think you saved me." She took a step towards the shadows. Pitch stood to face her, coming across the room. "Thank you." She stood there for a second and waited for something. "I don't even know if you came back…" She hugged herself against the cold in her limbs and the fear that her shadow had abandoned her.

"I'm here." Pitch said stepping towards her. He ran his hand down the side of her face. "I'm right here." She closed her eyes as if she were trying to stop herself from crying or hold onto a memory.

"I don't even know your name." Cally whispered. Pitch held his hands against her face, willing her not to cry.

"Pitch," He said, not expecting her to hear him. "Pitch Black."

"Thank you, Pitch." Cally said, eyes still closed. Pitch removed his hands in surprise. She'd heard him. "I'll be back as soon as I can." And Cally smiled obscurely at him through the dark. "I promise." And then she walked away and left Pitch there staring after her, dumbfounded because she had heard him.

Cally had heard him, and now she knew his name.

The aftermath of Cally's kidnaping lingered for a year or so. It was the worst right after that night, with police visits and counselors and doctors. Cally told him about each one. She told him that the men who had kidnapped her were found easily because they went to the police talking about a monster in the dark. She told him it was Tyler's older brother and his gang of thugs that had kidnapped her.

Every word Cally spoke reminded him that he had saved her, that he had done something to erase a fear from the world rather than to create one. Pitch even helped keep the memories from her dreams. Each day, each story, each time Cally spoke his name, he felt a little spark dancing in the darkness of his heart. Could it be that this girl, who was quickly becoming something more like a woman, was somehow…

After that first year, Cally didn't mention It anymore. She told Pitch at one time that one day she would just stop thinking about It and It wouldn't bother her anymore. Pitch smiled at her sleeping form as he played games with her dreams because that day had come to pass and he was glad for her.

"Pitch?" Cally asked one day when she was passing through seventeen. "You know I'll be leaving one day right?" She was sitting on her bed, knees to her chest, waiting for him to reply. "I can't stay here forever. I'll go to college and have life somewhere else." She looked out at the moon, hanging large outside her window, illuminating the spring evening. Pitch hadn't known. He hadn't expected to stay this long, let alone want to stay with his captor. "I really wish you could talk back again. I hear your voice in my dreams sometimes…" She looked down at the painted toes that peeked out from under her pajama pants. "And I've always wanted to see you." Pitch stood next to her bed, as he often did when she got into moments like this. He set his hand upon her hair and she tried not to move for fear of breaking the connection. "I would give anything to see you, Pitch. To be able to talk to you, be able to touch you…" Her voice trailed off then. She hadn't thought of that so much before. Could she love this shadow? She wondered. Didn't she already? It felt like love to her…but what did she know. She was just a foolish little girl…


	3. Chapter Two

Chapter Two: Breaking

How many bad things are allowed to happen in one, short life? Pitch stood there in the corner of Cally's room and watched as Tyler climbed in through the window in the middle of the night. Cally was fast asleep and had long since stopped fearing such intrusions in her room. Pitch tried to move to help her as Tyler approached her bed. The boy was grown now, more muscle than not, shaggy hair and an angry face. Life had not been kind to the boy.

"Do you want to go through this again, boy?" Pitch demanded taking a step forward. Tyler didn't look up when he spoke. Pitch took another step and found that he couldn't move any closer. Pitch looked down at his waist and found a thick, white, chain encompassed him. Pitch pulled at it but it didn't budge. "What is this?" Pitch demanded. The crescent moon outside whispered something Pitch didn't want to hear. "Why does this _have_ to happen?" Pitch demanded. Cally was awake now, staring up at Tyler as he covered her mouth with his hand. Pitch could feel Cally's fear like a knife in his chest as he drew an arrow across his bow. Suddenly there were those odd white chains holding his hands back. The bow and arrow fell as his hands were drawn against him.

"You have ruined my life!" Tyler snarled at Cally who was trapped beneath him. "You've been haunting me! You and that _THING_ …" Cally pushed at him, trying to get him off of herself. Pitch roared in anger because there was nothing he could do but watch. Tyler shook Cally and her head went back and forth against her pillows. When Cally made to scream, Tyler took a pillow and pressed it against her face. Cally tried, but she couldn't pry his hands off of her and her fingers clawed uselessly against the pillow.

"SHUT UP!" He said pressing harder. "Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!"

Tyler didn't stop taking his anger out on Cally. Not even when she stopped fighting. Not even when she went limp. Not even when Tyler removed the pillow and shook her again and her head just flopped on her neck.

When Tyler realized what he had done, he lifted her against the headboard to get a better look at her. When her eyes stayed closed he shook her hard against the wood and there was a dull thud as her skull connected with the sharp edge, he slowly stood from Cally and stared.

Pitch screamed at Tyler and at Cally and at the Man in the Moon. He screamed because it wasn't fair that this had happened to her. It wasn't fair that it had happened to him.

"Cally?" Tyler whispered into the dark. "Oh god…Cally?" He touched her shoulder.

"Don't you dare touch her!" Pitch roared at the boy's deaf ears. The boy didn't deserve to touch her. Once Tyler realized what he had done he hurried to leave. As soon as the filth had fled, the chains around Pitch dissolved into the moonlight cast across the floor.

Pitch just looked at Cally's limp form from his place in her shadows. He couldn't believe that she was…

"Cally," Pitch said walking over to her bed. She didn't stir when he approached. He reached out and touched her cheek, really touched it. She didn't wake up, or smile, or look at him. Her eyes were closed as if she were asleep. Pitch sat at the edge of her bed and put his head in his hands. What was he going to do now?

As if as an answer, the moonlight that shone in through Cally's open window seemed to bend. It bent up and onto her bed, encasing her in its soft, silvery light. Pitch stood and watched in awe as her hair, once brown and copper and dark, seemed to absorb the moonlight and turned as silver as the glow. Her skin became almost translucent as the glimmer seeped into her. Pitch stood back as her chest seemed to fill with the light.

Suddenly the light was gone except for a dull glow that clung to Cally's skin and hair. Her chest rose and fell again, as if she were truly asleep. Pitch looked out at the moon and then back at the girl, suddenly so much more than a girl, as she slowly breathed in and out.

"Cally?" Pitch ventured as he stepped closer again. Her eyes opened slowly, but they opened. She looked at him with wide, bright eyes the color of moonlight and a smile stole across her face.

"Pitch?" She said eyes as wide as the moon outside her window. "Oh my…" She smiled wider. "It's really you!" Cally sat up on her knees in excitement.

"You can see me now." Pitch said simply, not sure if she understood or knew what had happened here tonight. Cally laughed and her hair curled in silvery delight.

"You have shark teeth!" She giggled. Pitch frowned at her. "And spiky hair!" She bounced in her delight. "And wonderful eyes!" She stood next to him then, wondering at how tall he was.

"Cally," Pitch tried to interject.

"I can't believe I can actually see you!" She spun around in a happy little circle and her hair curled tighter and bounced around her head in a bright silvery halo.

"Cally…" Pitch tried again.

"You're so much taller than I thought." She looked him up and down. "Can I touch you?" She wondered reaching out. Her hands connected with his very solid chest and she all but cried out in her joy as she threw her arms around him. Pitch was taken aback at the contact, unsure of what to do. Cally looked up at him, concerned.

"I'm sorry." She said stepping back, her hair falling down to shoulder length waves. Her eyes watched his face. They were as bright and as round as the full moon, still watching from the window.

"Cally, do you remember what happened?" Pitch asked waving his hand obscurely at her bed behind her. She looked at the bed and tipped her head chasing the memory.

"Sort of?" She asked looking back at Pitch. "Aren't you happy that I can see you?" She asked, changing the subject.

"You need to remember." Pitch said and Cally turned from him again and stared at her bed, her hair long, silver, and kinked in anger.

"I…" She waited for a moment. "I don't think I want to remember." Her anger smoothed out as she watched the bed sheets and noticed the blood. She raised a hand to the back of her head and examined her pale fingers in the moonlight. They showed no sign of injury, but somehow she knew there had been something there before.

Cally turned her face to the window then and quickly moved so that she stood on the ledge. Pitch knew that look, the moon had something to say to her.

"Can you hear him?" She asked over her shoulder, her hair waved in wonder and floated out around her as if she were suspended in water or time.

"I can." Pitch said simply.

"He says I'm…" She frowned and her hair drooped slightly. "He says I died." Cally turned to Pitch again. "I died didn't I?" Pitch could only nod. Cally turned her face back to the Man in the Moon.

"He says that we can't stay here. That I need to find the Pole?" Cally said and then she frowned.

"What?" Pitch asked. He hadn't heard the last comment.

"He said I'm his daughter?" Cally said curiously. "Daughter of the moon's soul." She looked at her hands, which were faintly glowing in the light. "Do you believe in such a thing?" Cally asked, perplexed. Pitch stepped up next to her.

"I do now." He put his arm around her waist and Cally smiled as he took them away from her room, her old life, and the terrible thing that had happened.

Tonight a life had ended, and a new one had begun.


	4. Chapter Three

Chapter Three: Adjusting

Cally stood in awe of Pitch's home. It was a huge cavern filled with caves and cages and shadows. It suited him.

"Cally?" Pitch asked as she flitted here and there on agile feet. She flitted back to him with a huge smile on her face.

"Yes Pitch?" She said happily stepping from foot to bare foot, hair curled into that silvery halo of delight. She was moving too much for him to keep his eyes on her for long, so he placed her face between his hands.

"Cally. The Man in the Moon said you needed to go to the Pole, right?" Pitch asked carefully. She nodded between his hands still smiling. "Then you need to go find the Pole." Her hair straightened out a little bit.

"I guess so." She agreed as Pitch let go of her face. "How do I get to the Pole?" Cally asked touching her cheeks.

"What can you do?" Pitch asked. He dissolved into the shadows an appeared on the ceiling above her. "Can you fly?" He asked moving to another corner of the room as a shadow. "Or do you simply move between places?" He was next to her again.

"That's a neat trick." Cally grinned. She took a step from him and concentrated, her silver hair stuck out in strange odd angles as she thought. She then took a step and shot off across the cavern as a flash of silver. She appeared on the other side of the cavern and floated in the air for a moment.

"Did you see that?" Cally laughed from across the expanse. "I flew!" She shot back in the same manor and stopped suddenly before Pitch.

"That you did." Pitch raised half of his face into a smile. She was beautiful in the dark, a light to mock the shadows and she wasn't afraid. He wondered why that made him feel happy rather than rejected.

"Where is the Pole?" Cally asked. "I'll try to get there, and I'll be back soon." She smiled up at him, and he felt that she was a little afraid she'd get lost and never find her way back to him. That was something Pitch had never seen before, someone that would miss the boogeyman.

"I can't tell you." Pitch said. Cally glared at him. "What?" He laughed at her. "I can't just point you in the direction of the Pole. It's like this place, out of the world. There aren't directions." Pitch walked around her to the globe flickering with lights.

"How am I supposed to find it then?" Cally demanded following him as he walked away from her.

"You look for it. Or find North somewhere, he'll probably take you home with him, what with you looking like a lost child and all." Pitch mocked. Cally frowned at him, her curls turning to harsher kinks as her anger rose.

"Why are you being mean to me?" She demanded. Pitch laughed again, he wasn't being mean, he was being candid.

"I'm the boogeyman, sweetheart, I thought you knew." Pitch gave her his best boogeyman smile. Her eyes went wide like the full moon.

"The boogeyman?" Cally wondered. Then she smiled, her anger leaving. Her laughter filled the cavern. "No wonder I have so many nightmares." She laughed again and Pitch rolled his eyes. She wasn't even mad at him. What was he supposed to do with that?

"You should get going." Pitch told Cally running a hand along the edge of the globe.

"Promise to be here when I come back?" Cally asked, suddenly right next to him.

"I'll be here." Pitch said not looking at her. He had nowhere else to go after all.

"Good." Cally stood up on her tiptoes and gave him a brief kiss on the cheek and vanished into a spark of silver light that shot away as fast as a shooting star. Pitch raised his hand to his cheek and wondered why Cally had to go to the Pole. He wondered too what that meant for him.

Cally was gone for a long time. She wandered around the world looking for the Pole. Each day that passed made her wonder if maybe she'd never find it. At night she'd look up at the moon and wonder if he had anything else to tell her. But her father never spoke. Somehow she knew that was for the best.

When Cally gave up her search for the Pole, she found herself on a new sort of quest. She had to find her way back to Pitch, the boogeyman. She wondered why what he was hadn't bothered her until now. She should have known from the start that Pitch was something dark, but she hadn't. Was Pitch the bad guy then? She wondered as she crossed the sky in a brilliant spark of light.

Someone saw her flying and made a wish. Cally was confused as to why she knew there was a little boy that wished his mother would come home. Cally went and found the little boy, wondering what it meant. He was sitting at home, waiting. She hid beside his window when he looked out at the sky. Not only was it a wish, Cally realized watching the boy's mother stumbling along the sidewalk towards the door, it was what the boy really needed. Cally felt something glowing in her hand and when she opened her palm a small globe of moonlight sat there. Cally released it towards the woman having trouble getting her key in the door, and the light was absorbed into the woman's head. Somehow Cally knew that the woman would be home for her son more often.

Maybe there was something to this. Cally wondered as she shot off again into the sky. But she was too busy wishing she was back home with Pitch to think too much of it.

Cally found her way to the caverns one day and relief filled her as she descended into the dark. She made her way to the big cavern and landed softly by the globe.

"Pitch?" She called into the shadows. There wasn't a reply. "Pitch!" She tried again, louder. Her only reply was her voice dancing off the ceiling. She ran a hand through her hair, trying to get it to lay behind her ears so that she could see the shadows better. Her hair was trying its hardest at the moment to get in her face and block her sight, as if maybe it knew there was nothing to see.

"You've been busy." A voice said suddenly from the shadows, but it wasn't Pitch.

"Who are you?" Cally demanded, anger mixed with the fear in her blood.

"I believe the better question is, who are you?" The voice didn't have a form as Cally looked into the shadows.

"I'm Cally Moonborne." She said. "Now tell me who you are!"

"Now Moonborne, I believe. But Cally? Not so much." The voice came from behind her now. She whipped around and stared at the darkness behind her.

"Then who am I?" Cally asked, her hair twitching as she became afraid for the answer. She didn't know what it could possibly be.

"You certainly have a specific color to you." The voice said flippantly. "Perhaps you should go by Silver?" The voice was walking again. Silver sounded right to something inside of her, and like a switch got flipped, something powerful awoke in her too. She lit the shadows with rays of moonlight that floated like dust moats in the dark. She couldn't see anything or anyone there.

"Who are you?" She demanded again. This time nothing but her echo replied. She let the moonlight fade and sat in the corner watching the globe with its glittering lights. They were children, she knew in her heart of hearts, but she didn't know why she knew. Or why she didn't care so much anymore. Cally shut her eyes then and curled up against the stone of the wall, wondering if Pitch would return, or if she'd somehow lost him forever. Cally dreamed one last time of mountains and flying and beautiful things. Silver's sleep was dreamless as she closed the door on her past.


	5. Chapter Four

Chapter Four: Snapping

"That is a strange place to sleep." Pitch's voice cut through the dark. Silver opened her eyes and peered into the shadows.

"Pitch." She sat up and ran a hand through her hair, which was being indecisive about whether it was wavy or not.

"You've been gone for quite some time. How was the Pole?" Pitch asked watching her through the dark. She glowed oddly now, a little darker than before, and was dressed differently as well. She wore a silver-white dress that looped around her neck and didn't cover her arms. The bottom hem was uneven, like when you cover something with a handkerchief and the edges don't line up. She also had a white shawl wrapped around her shoulders that hung down her back and silver ballet flats. She got to her feet and her clothes shimmered with extra silver as she moved. The shawl disappeared as she stood there before him. Pitch had trouble keeping his eyes off her. She looked like a fairy or a dream.

"I never found the Pole." Silver said simply.

"You've been gone for months, what did you find?" Pitch asked curiously. He hadn't thought she would return without finding the Pole.

"My name is Silver Moonborne." She said. "Cally died." Silver looked at her shoes. "I can grant true wishes with moonlight. And I can fly." She was almost grinning at her feet now. "I can fly really fast."

"I see." Pitch said walking past her. "Why didn't you find the Pole?" He inquired.

"What does it matter? What could possibly be waiting for me there?" Silver was angry and her hair reflected it well.

"MiM knows what he's doing, Cal…Silver." Pitch tripped over the new name. Had his Cally really died? What did that make Silver to him? She certainly wasn't the girl that had kissed his cheek goodbye.

"That's what I hear." Silver replied bitterly.

"You're afraid I don't want you here anymore," Pitch said suddenly. Silver's eyes shot up to meet his face, eyes as wide as a harvest moon. His grin was condescending at best and she was angry for it.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Silver snapped, a blush stealing up her pale cheeks. Maybe she was still his in some way.

"If there is one thing I know, Silver, it's what one's greatest fear is." Pitch grinned broader as the girl before him shook her head.

"I don't need you!" She shouted at him. "I've been just fine without you!" She was glowing brighter now, her anger granting her strength as her hair twitched in fury.

"You're afraid I'll send you away." Pitch walked past her and down the dark hall. She ran at Pitch, trying to get her hands on him.

"Pitch, you're evil!" Silver shouted. "You're evil and you're cruel!" She cried. Pitch just laughed because he was having fun with her. Besides, anger he knew how to deal with. It was the nice things he was unsure of.

"I told you what I am, why does it still surprise you?" Pitch whispered from behind her. She turned quickly and yelled wordlessly at him. She made a gesture and a white light shot from her hand and hit the wall next to the shadow that concealed Pitch. He frowned, she had certainly grown into herself in her absence.

"Why am I here Pitch?" Silver cried as she chased his shadow down another hallway. "What do you want from me?"

"I don't want anything. You're the one that followed me home." Pitch said appearing down the path from her. She growled and sent a pair of lights his way. One light caught his arm and it turned into one of those white chains that had bound him once before. It was Pitch's turn to be surprised. Silver smiled mercilessly at him as she pulled on the chain and he went crashing to the floor. "Ow!" Pitch said indignantly getting back to his feet.

"You want something Pitch, you've been wishing too." Silver said it like a threat. Pitch pulled the chain and Silver came falling towards him as the landscape shifted and she lost her footing. Pitch caught her easily against his chest.

"It's good to have you back." Pitch smiled at her with all his shark-sharp teeth showing. Silver pushed against him and his embrace.

"You're a jerk, Pitch." But she had figured out his game. "But I missed you." She said and just like that they were standing together in the dark.

"I missed you too." Pitch admitted, wrapping his arms around her despite his confusion. She leaned into this embrace. The moonlight chain dissolved with her anger. Silver smiled then.

She was really home.

Time passed in that odd way that time does; without the consent of those stuck in its stream. Silver and Pitch stayed out of the world most days, but some days they would go out into the vast place and play the games they knew best. Pitch haunted nightmares and Silver granted dreams. Opposing forces that kept the world in balance and just like that time had gone by. It was as if they had been doing it forever.

Each night, or the equivalent thereof, Silver would sit with Pitch and tell him about the wishes she'd heard and the ones that she granted and the things that she saw. Pitch would take it all in and smile at her as she happily relayed her life to him. It had been one of the things he had missed while she had gone out to find the Pole.

"A lot of people are wishing that Santa is real. Or that they could get proof of him." Silver said one night as she lay across Pitch's lap. He looked down at her with a wrinkled brow as her hair twined its strands around his idle fingers.

"Does that surprise you?" Pitch questioned, chasing a wayward strand of silver.

"Can I tell them that he's real?" Silver frowned then. "Santa is real, yes?" She asked. Pitch nodded.

"As real as the boogeyman." He made a face at her and she laughed. "Or the Tooth Fairy. Or the Easter Bunny…" Pitch listed them off.

"Can I tell the children then?" Silver asked moving so that she could catch his free hand in hers. She turned it over as she thought. "Can I tell the children that They're real?" Silver wondered as she touched his fingertips.

"I'd rather you didn't." Pitch said darkly. Silver sat up then, dropping his hand back to his lap.

"Why not?" She demanded. "Am I to lie to the children? Or simple ignore their wishes?" Silver's hair could all but cut like the daggers in her voice.

"I draw my power from Fear. When children believe in the goody-goodies, like Santa and them, they lose that fear and I grow weak. That's why I hide under beds." Silver frowned at him. Pitch just laughed at her. "You know what I am and yet you always seem so surprised." He held a hand out to invite her back to him. Silver watched him warily for a moment before taking his hand and lying back across his lap.

"I forget you're the bad guy, because you're not the bad guy to me." Silver said holding his hand tighter than before.

"I don't want you to ignore wishes or lie to children." Pitch said carefully. Silver looked at him oddly.

"Why not? You just said…" Silver tried to argue but Pitch stilled her lips with his finger. She frowned up at him.

"Because lying to the children would make you unhappy, and I can't have that, now can I?" Pitch said with a small smile. Silver blushed at him and didn't say anything. They fell silent and Pitch watched Silver's eyes drift close as sleep claimed her. Pitch ran a hand absently over her hair. All he knew was that she still had to go to the Pole and he didn't want her to go. He was afraid he'd lose her to them. She was so good after all…

When Silver woke Pitch wasn't there. She sat up and yawned, maybe he was just out again. She stretched and rubbed at the sleep in her eyes.

"Pitch?" Silver called into the dark, wandering into the large cavern.

"He's out." That bodiless voice said from behind her. Silver jumped up and shot light at the sound trying to bind it. "That's not very friendly, now is it Silver?" The voice mocked. It was a young sounding voice, but Silver couldn't decide if it was a trick or not.

"Who are you?" Silver demanded trying to light up the dark with moonlight. Nothing was visible but the stone of the cavern.

"Doesn't matter who I am. I see you know who you are now. That's nice." The voice said with a sneer. Silver glowered at the noise.

"What do you want from me?" Silver demanded, shooting more lights at the voice. "Tell me or I swear…!" She shouted.

"You'll do what, little girl?" The voice sounded angry now, all semblance of friendliness gone in a spark of anger. Silver found herself shrinking back from the sound. "Gonna chain me up? You can't even see me!" The voice cackled into the shadows, filling the cavern with its hideous sounds.

"Why are you talking to me?" Silver shouted over the din as she covered her ears. There was no answer other than that horrible cackle echoing in her head.

Silver was on her knees, head covered with her hands, when Pitch found her. He looked at her strangely.

"What are you doing on the floor?" Pitch asked approaching Silver's crouched over form. Her head shot up and with eyes wild, she sent a barrage of lights at him. He managed to block a few of them but some of the others broke through his shield and caught him in their chains. The chains lengthened and pulled his arms to his sides. They bound his legs together and grew heavy enough to bring him to his knees. "What is this?" Pitch demanded, confused and surprised among a million other things.

Silver didn't answer right away for there was still that wretched ringing in her ears. As she watched Pitch sitting there, glaring at her, covered in thick, glowing chains, her wild eyes cleared and she withdrew her hands from her head.

"Pitch?" Silver asked, confused. Pitch rolled his eyes at her.

"Well, I'm not the Easter Bunny." He snorted. "Mind letting me free?" he added. She looked at the chains oddly, as if she hadn't seen them until now.

"I did that?" Silver asked, concerned. "I didn't know I could do that." She waved her hand at him and called off the chains.

"What happened to you?" Pitch asked standing as he brushed himself off.

"There was something…" Silver pointed to the shadows. Pitch looked around skeptically.

"I would know if something else were here." Pitch said extending his hand to Silver. She looked at it as if it were a fanged thing.

"It was here when you were gone." Silver said. "I…I don't know what it wants." She looked away from his hand. "I'm scared of it." Silver admitted, which seemed an absurd thing to say to the boogeyman. Pitch frowned at her.

"What did this, voice, say?" He asked.

"He told me I know who I am now. But he was mocking me." Silver looked up at him with those eyes as bright and wide as a full moon. They were filled with confused fear. Pitch didn't like that someone else had made her afraid.

"He? So it was a male voice?" Pitch asked. Silver pulled her knees up to her chest and nodded.

"He laughed and it echoed in my head like…" Silver shook her head at the memory. "It wasn't you was it?" Silver asked suddenly. Pitch smiled at her.

"Of course not," Pitch extended his hand to her again, wanting her to stand and take the comfort he offered. "If it had been, I certainly wouldn't have left you lying on the floor." Silver wiped at her face and took his hand. He pulled her to her feet and wrapped his long arms around her. Silver held onto the front of his robe. "Now," Pitch pulled away from her and traced a tear down her cheek. "No more crying." He smirked at her and she nodded.

"Ok." She said softly. Pitch still had one arm holding her to him as his fingers lingered on her face. Silver still had ahold of the front of his robe and was watching his face for some clue as to what was going to happen next. Silver smiled then. "You're wishing again Pitch." There was a devious note to this statement.

"Am I?" Pitch asked lightly as he smiled back at her. He knew full well what he was wishing. Silver nodded and licked her dry lips, causing his eyes to divert from hers.

"You are." Silver said truly. "Go ahead." She said knowing in her way that he wanted something that only she could give. Pitch's hand grabbed her chin in its unforgiving grasp. Her eyes dared him. He brought her face to his in a hard kiss. It was harsh, and it was passionate. It was greedy, and it was cruel. But Pitch needed it. And Silver loved it.

When they broke apart they both found they needed to catch their breath. Pitch was grinning at Silver and she was still holding tightly to the front of his robes as if that was all that held her upright. They just looked at each other for a time.

"We should do that again sometime." Silver said with a small laugh to break the silence. Pitch shrugged.

"I won't object." He grinned at her. "But first," He brushed the hair from her forehead, but it quickly ran back and tried to twine itself in his fingers. "We need to talk." Silver raised her eyebrow at him.

"About what?" Silver asked, blinking.

"You still need to go to the Pole." He said simply, he'd been on about it for days now. Silver growled at him, tired of his nagging and broke from his embrace.

"Again, you bring it up!" Silver crossed he arms angrily over her chest. "And at a terribly inconvenient moment too." She glowered at the shadows that run along the wall with her back to Pitch.

"I meant to tell you earlier…" Pitch tried to defend himself. He threw his hands up in defeat. "What just happened doesn't change the fact you need to go." Pitch pointed at her back angrily. She turned quickly on her heel, her dress fanning out around her briefly. Pitch glanced at the fabric then back up to her face.

"Why do I _have_ to go?" Silver demanded, arms still crossed. "And don't you dare tell me because the Man in the Moon said so." Pitch shook his head at her.

"You wanted to go before." He offered. She shrugged.

"Now I don't want to. If I couldn't find it, maybe they don't want me there. All I need is here anyway." Silver strode past him then. He turned and watched her go, exasperated.

"Silver!" Pitch shouted after her. "Don't walk away from me!" He shouted moving through the shadows to appear in front of her. She glowered at him, but stopped.

"What Pitch?" Silver asked, clearly quite angry at him.

"You can't avoid it forever. Believe me, the last place I want you to go is the Pole." Pitch said, trying to sound apologetic and failing.

"And yet you're the one that keeps pushing me to go." She spat at him. "Just leave me be for a while." She went to walk past him but he caught her arm.

"Silver," Pitch said meeting her eyes. "Maybe they can tell you who the voice is." Her eyes narrowed and she looked away from him.

"Ask me again tomorrow." Silver said softly and shot out of the cavern in a blast of silver-light. Pitch stood there in the dark and for the first time in many, many years, he truly felt like the villain.


	6. Chapter Five

**Chapter Five: Learning**

Silver came in late that night and went straight to bed. She curled up next to Pitch and fell promptly to sleep. Pitch opened one eye, wondering if she was still mad at him. Seeing as she hadn't asked if he was awake, he assumed she was. Pitch just sighed and went back to whatever sleep he could have.

The morning couldn't have come any slower for Pitch. He didn't like that Silver was angry with him. She was still sleeping when Pitch got out of bed and went off into the other room. Maybe it'd be better to let her wake on her own.

When Silver joined Pitch in the large room she stopped across from him. Pitch watched her wondering if she were still angry.

"Good morning." Pitch said trying to look normal. What was it about her that always had him questioning what he was? But no matter, that was a thought for another time.

"Morning, Pitch." Silver was watching him with a similar expression.

"How was your night?" Pitch asked.

"I didn't have nightmares last night…" Silver said, but she didn't sound happy about it. "You stayed out of my dreams, didn't you?" Pitch nodded, his arms held behind his back as he paced. "Why?"

"I thought you'd like a reprieve." Pitch said not looking at her.

"Why would I want you to abandon my dreams? I've lived with them all my life, I can't sleep well without them." Silver took a few exploratory steps towards him. He glanced at her, eyebrow raised and she stopped.

"I wasn't aware of that." Pitch just watched her as she debated her next move. He watched her bite her lip, amused by the sensation it created in him.

"I'm sorry." Silver said abruptly. "About yesterday. I was just…" She ran a hand through her wayward hair which was hanging abnormally flat. "Overwhelmed." Pitch nodded at her. Silver rolled up to her toes then back down to flat feet again.

Pitch waited for her to say something more because she looked like she was going to, but she just bounced up and down on her feet. She was waiting for him too he realized.

"Pitch, come here." Silver said suddenly with a new look in her eyes. Her hair was suddenly wavier again. He watched her warily, wondering what she would do to him. Silver was smiling now. Pitch wasn't sure what that meant. "Come here." She commanded again, she held out her arms to him. Pitch stepped closer, still wondering what she was up to. When he was within arm reach, Silver grabbed the front of his robe and pulled his face to hers for a real apology.

For a moment Pitch was taken aback, but then he deepened the kiss. One of his hands wound around to the small of her back, holding her closer to him, as the other buried in her hair. Pitch pulled her head back so that he had full control of her kiss. Silver's hands tightened on his robes and the kiss faded. Pitch grinned at Silver with a darker sort pleasure.

"If we're going to play this game, we're going to play by my rules." Pitch said from somewhere deep in his throat. Silver nodded at him, wonderfully dazed. Pitch loosened his grip on her hair and she ran her fingers gently through his. Pitch was surprised at the sensation. Silver had her arms resting on his shoulders as they stood together in the dark.

"I have a deal for you." Silver said.

"Oh do you?" Pitch asked with a skeptical note. Silver nodded.

"I do." She smiled at him and pulled gently at the short hairs at the back of his neck. Pitch found his lips twitching towards a smile.

"And what's that?" Pitch asked, his hands resting on Silver's hips.

"I'll go to the Pole, but only if you take me." Silver met Pitch's eyes then and he found he actually wanted to say yes.

"I can't take you." Pitch said softly. "They don't exactly, appreciate my talents there."

"Oh?" Silver asked still playing with the skin at the back of his neck. "Why not?" She asked innocently. Pitch stepped away from her then.

"We had…a disagreement." Pitch said, crossing his arms behind his back. They were still somewhat fresh wounds.

"A disagreement?" Silver asked following him as he walked from the room.

"Yes. The Guardians don't care for me very much." Pitch said over his shoulder.

"I just need you to take me to the Pole, you don't have to stay." Silver said jogging slightly to catch up to him. She grabbed his arm and looped her arm through his. He looked down at her walking beside him and ignored his urge to pull away on principal. The boogeyman shouldn't touch such a wonderful creature unless he aimed to destroy it. "Please Pitch?" Silver looked up at him with her big, bright eyes. Pitch knew he could never destroy her.

"I should say no," Pitch said. But oh how he wanted to please her, to make her smile as he knew she would if he agreed.

"But you're gonna say yes?" Silver asked happily. Pitch frowned for a moment then smiled, showing her all those shark-sharp teeth he had.

"I think we should go." Pitch said with a wicked thought hiding behind the words. What would the Guardians think of him with such an innocent little thing in tow?

"I have another question." Silver said, twining her fingers in his. He overlooked the wondersome gesture.

"And what would that be, my little nightmare?" Pitch asked still smiling. Silver blushed at the endearment.

"Who are the Guardians?" She really was quite innocent, wasn't she? Pitch laughed then and twirled Silver around by their entwined hands. She laughed in response. "What's gotten into you all of a sudden Pitch?" Silver asked.

"Absolutely nothing." Pitch sober slightly. This next bit could be fun then. He wanted to see their faces when they saw them together. He wanted to show them he was loved.

"It's so cold." Silver complained as Pitch landed them in the snow.

"It's the North Pole. What did you expect?" Pitch said. Silver shivered for a moment before her shawl appeared and wrapped itself around her shoulders.

"Oh shut up." Silver said trying her hardest not to sink in the snow. Pitch gave her a shrug and pointed her towards the distant lights. "There's where you're going. Have a nice trip." Pitch turned to go.

"Wait!" Silver said. Pitch turned to her dramatically.

"Yes?" He asked with a slight smirk.

"Aren't you going to go with me?" Silver asked. "Not even for a little ways?" Her eyes were bright in the half-light.

"No." Pitch said simply. Silver crossed her arms over her chest.

"But it's so far away, what if I can't get there for some reason and I need your help?" Silver asked. Pitch laughed.

"You can fly, you'll be fine. I'll be in the Cave when you're done." Pitch turned to go again, but stopped when he heard Silver yelp.

"Let go of me!" Silver shouted as a yeti grabbed hold of her arms. Pitch felt anger contort his face as he shot nightmare sand at the beast that had ahold of his Silver.

"Back away from her!" Pitch said in a dangerous tone. The first yeti had lost his grip on her when the sand connected with him. Another one came up behind Pitch and tried to grab him. Pitch sneered and swung his scythe at that one. Silver's eyes went wide as he fought. He was wonderful to watch. Another yeti had gotten ahold of her and she made a loud noise that distracted Pitch long enough for him to be tackled by another couple of the beasts. Silver got angry then and was able to break free of her captor.

As hard as Silver tried she couldn't seem to hit any of the yetis with her moonlight. It was as if it reflected off of their fur. So she danced around them, trying to help Pitch, but unable to.

"Pitch!" Silver shouted, he was bound by something now and he glared angrily at his captors.

"Silver!" Pitch said indignantly. Silver stopped halfway through turning to run away. It was enough that another of the yetis caught her around the middle and had her bound like Pitch. They were then thrown, unceremoniously, through a bright light that scared Silver to go through.

"RELEASE ME!" Pitch bellowed when the two of them rolled out of the other end of the wormhole. Silver's head was still spinning when she landed on her knees.

"Where are we?" She asked shaking the dizziness from her head.

"What is this?" An angry Russian voice said. Silver looked up and saw a large man in red with a white beard.

"Santa?" She asked. His attention diverted from Pitch for a moment. North frowned at her.

"Who is this?" He had a very thick Russian accent. This comment was directed to one of the yetis standing nearby, the yeti shrugged. Silver got her knees under herself more evenly.

"Leave Pitch out of it, he didn't even want to come." Silver defended.

"Now let me go North!" Pitch was furious, about being tied up, being thrown through a wormhole, and that Silver was scared for him. No one should be afraid on behalf of the boogeyman, especially not her.

"North?" Silver asked looking over at Pitch who was also on his knees now, working his way to his feet.

"That's his name, though I'm sure he goes by Santa too." Pitch directed at her. She nodded. Silver wiggled against her ropes and she felt something deep in her chest, she wanted out of these ropes because she thought someone was going to hurt Pitch. She could feel the tension in the air as North stood before the man in black. There were dark sorts of wishes in the air.

"What do you want with such a girl? What are you planning?" North asked with his arms crossed over his great belly.

"Let me out of these ropes, and let me explain." Pitch said with an angry sneer.

"You think I will fall for that?" North sneered. "And not as theatric this time, I see." North said. Silver frowned and looked around as the two of them argued. She needed to get out of these ropes. There were far too many people wishing Pitch harm.

Silver suddenly shot off into the air in a spark of silver. She could feel the ropes coming lose as she switched between her silver-light and human form. She shot around the room, blinking in and out of a solid form before she fell a good couple of feet. She finally managed to free herself from the ropes on the third try. She shot back to the platform, where Pitch and North stood, mouths equally agape, stumbling a little as she landed.

"That wasn't nearly as graceful as I was hoping." Silver said when she landed next to Pitch.

"Cally Moonborne?" North said suddenly in surprise. Silver's eyes went wide at the name.

"Cally died." She said taking a step back towards Pitch. She didn't want to think about what she had been right now, or how she had ended. She took another step back and bumped into her nightmare.

"Can you untie me please?" Pitch said angrily to whoever would listen. Silver darted behind him and undid the rope. "Thank you Silver. Now." Pitch turned to North, rubbing his arms. "Silver needs to talk to you." He motioned to his companion.

"My name is Silver Moonborne." Silver piped up standing in front of Pitch again. "I was told to come to the Pole, but I couldn't find it, so I convinced Pitch to bring me here. Please allow him to leave, unbothered." She was watching the group of yetis that had gathered behind North. They all wanted to harm Pitch, Silver could feel them wanting, wishing. North too, he wanted Pitch to pay for some wrong he had done.

"What does Peach have over you that you want to protect him? Hmm?" North asked. Silver stepped back and bumped into Pitch again. She reached behind herself to grasp the front of his robe.

"He's…" Silver stopped. What was he to her? "He hasn't done anything wrong today. I don't know what he did to wrong you before, but that isn't today. Please, let him leave." Silver said again.

"Silver," Pitch tried to stop her from defending him, but he knew that she was his only advocate in the room. Maybe North would listen to her.

"This is interesting." North said rubbing his great beard.

"I assure you, I came here meaning no harm." Pitch said, attempting to pull Silver's hands from his robes. Her hands didn't budge.

"Has Peach done something to you, Cally?" North asked the young woman protecting the nightmare king.

"My name's Silver now. Cally died. The only things that Peach has done to me, are things I am grateful for." Silver was looking at the group opposing her and Pitch, a small smile playing on her face at her own joke. North frowned at them, but looked at the yetis who all backed off.

"Did you just call me 'Peach'?" Pitch asked, but Silver ignored him.

"Alright." North said. Silver turned around to look at Pitch.

"Go home. I'll be fine." She said.

"Why are you so quick to get rid of me?" Pitch asked, amused.

"They wish to hurt you for whatever, disagreement, you had." Silver said softly. "Just go home Peach." Her lips curled as she said it.

"You better not make a habit of that." Pitch said ignoring the strange looks they were getting from their audience.

"You bet your peaches." Silver winked at him. "Now go. I'll be back soon." She went up on her toes and kissed his cheek.

"Well this has been…unpleasant." Pitch said as Silver turned back to North, the yetis and the array of elves that had shown up. She knew the instant he had vanished.

"Now," Silver said trying to break the growing silence. "Why would I be sent here?"


	7. Chapter Six

**Chapter Six: Meeting**

It took some time, but eventually Silver got her entire story out. She left out most bits about her old life, other than to mention the shadow that had saved her, and spoke instead of this life she's had. Silver told North about trying to find the Pole the first time and discovering that she could grant wishes. North took it all in silence.

"So what does it mean?" Silver asked when her story was done.

"It means that you're the newest Legendary Figure in over 300 years." North said, clapping her on the back hardily.

"Am I? Who was the last one?" Silver asked sipping at the eggnog that someone had set before her at some point. She liked it because it was sweet and she hadn't known she could still eat.

"Jack Frost," North smiled. Silver sat up in her seat.

"He's real too? I never thought!" Silver grinned. "Can I meet him?" She looked at North with those big wide eyes and he nodded. She was happy now that her vulnerability had passed.

"Sure! We'll invite all the Guardians to meet you!" North laughed heartily. Silver smiled. She was excited to meet everyone. It was like she was being entered into some secret club. Besides, she was glad North liked her now that Pitch was gone. She wanted to ask what Pitch had done to earn his ire still, but she didn't dare to just yet.

"I'm so happy, I didn't think anyone would care that I exist. Is that strange of me?" Silver asked taking a bigger sip of her eggnog. North just shrugged.

The eggnog was having a strange effect on her head. It didn't take much more of the drink before Silver was running around and playing with all the toys. North just laughed and told her not to break anything or else the yetis would be upset.

After spending the afternoon wreaking havoc in the toyshop and harassing the yetis and elves, Silver settled into an alcove she found by one of the great windows. This was the time of night that she would normally talk to Pitch about her adventures of the day, but North had insisted she stay the night at the Pole until the other Guardians came to meet her, even though Silver was sure she could find the Pole again if she left.

"You look sad, little one." North said, surprising her.

"I'm not sad," Silver said, still looking out the window. But she certainly didn't sound happy.

"It's a lot, then?" North offered. Silver nodded watching the stars in the sky.

"I usually tell Pitch about my day this time of night," Silver admitted, pulling her legs up to her chin. She sighed. "He wouldn't admit it, but he likes it when I talk to him like that." North frowned slightly.

"How did you end up with Peach?" He asked. Silver shrugged.

"I think he ended up with me somehow. Before I…" Silver frowned. "Before I died, he was there. I couldn't see him, granted, but I knew he was there." She'd mentioned it before, but only briefly.

"That is strange. Do you know why he was there?" North asked. Silver shrugged still watching the sky.

"I never thought to ask," Silver said and sighed again. "I hope he doesn't worry about me." She saw North's disbelief reflected in the window. "Ya, I know you don't think he has such depth. But he does." Silver snorted. "Is it so absurd that the boogeyman has feelings like anyone else?" This was rhetorical.

"Peach certainly seemed," North searched for the word. "Changed." He said with a definitive nod. "You must have that effect on him."

"I wouldn't know." Silver said rubbing her hands together under her shawl. "It's so cold here." She observed.

"I'll find you a blanket." North said, moving away. Silver nodded and went back to watching the sky and the stars. The sky was much bigger here than anywhere else she'd ever been.

"Pitch, I hope you made it back ok." Silver whispered, wishing there was some way for him to hear her. "I'm having fun, and everything's going well. I miss you." She heard a little whiney from near her feet. She started. There was a little white horse with odd little black eyes stamping by her shoes. "What are you?" She wondered. It bounded up to her hand when she reached out to it. It danced around her fingers and she smiled at it.

"That looks like a nightmare." North said coming back with the blanket he had promised.

"A white nightmare." Silver said with a grin, she'd seen Pitch's nightmares a few time, but they avoided her mostly. "Can you find Pitch for me then?" She asked the creature in her hands. It whinnied again as if to say yes.

"You are full of surprises." North said. The little white nightmare ran around Silver's head once, before it ran through the window and off into the night.

"I keep surprising myself." Silver yawned. "Is there somewhere I can sleep?" North nodded and led her off.

The next morning Silver awoke with a handful of elves staring at her. She jumped and almost fell off of the bed she had been sleeping upon.

"Don't you know it's rude to stare?" She demanded angrily. The elves all looked frightened and ran out, jangling all the way. Silver plopped back down. She hadn't slept well away from Pitch. She sighed heavily and rolled off the bed, rubbing her head. That's when she heard new voices coming from down the hall.

"What do you mean?" An Australian said, befuddled. "He was here, and he didn't do anything?" Silver stepped out into the main room and the talking stopped. Silver's eyes went wide as she looked at the group.

"Good morning, Silver." North said with a smile.

"Morning…everyone." Silver said bouncing up on her toes. Her hair was curled in wonder.

"These are the Guardians." North informed her grandly. Silver nodded, she had guessed as much.

"That's one big bunny." She said a small smile stealing across her face. To think they were really real and to see that they were, were very different things Silver realized.

"Bunnymund, the Easter Bunny." North introduced. "And this is Toothiana, the Tooth Fairy." Silver nodded, transfixed.

"Hello there." Toothiana said with a smile and a wave. Silver smiled back.

"And you're really pretty." Silver smiled broadly. The Tooth Fairy made a cooing sound as she looked at her little fairies.

"Sanderson, the Sand Man." North motioned to the little golden man that stood next to him, not quite making it up to North's knee. Silver waved at him and he waved back.

"It's a pleasure." Silver smiled.

"And Jack Frost." North said. Jack gave her a half wave as he leaned against his staff and she bobbed her head.

"So this is the girl that lives with Pitch." Jack said stepping forward, as if he was challenging her. Silver planted her feet then. The Tooth Fairy gasped, clearly offended by Jack's brashness, or maybe it was the fact he mentioned Pitch. His name alone set them all on edge.

"I am. And you're the boy that never existed, if I recall correctly." Silver shot back. Jack held his arms up in mock surrender.

"Silver," North reprimanded, she probably wasn't supposed to know that but North answered all of her question. Except the one question she hadn't dared to ask. Silver looked at her shoes.

"Sorry." Silver said.

"So what is it you do?" Bunnymund asked. Silver shrugged.

"Lots of stuff, I can fly really fast. I grant wishes. I hang around Pitch…" Silver smiled. "Can I get some eggnog?" She asked. Three different elves brought her cups. "Why thank you!" Silver smiled and the elf she took a cup from smiled like a schoolboy up at her. "You guys should drink some of this stuff, it's fantastic." She drained the cup and took another from another waiting elf. Her hair curled into happy ringlets as she drank.

"Take it easy there." Jack said with a light grin. Silver smirked.

"Oh come on, don't you know how to have fun?" Silver laughed. Jack glared at her.

"Believe me, I know fun." Jack said motioning with his staff. Silver finished her second cup of eggnog with her eyebrows raised.

"Prove it, ice-pop." She snickered. Jack grinned, a snowball forming in his hand. Silver hadn't been around anyone other than Pitch since she became this way, and it was refreshing and very exciting. Silver wondered why she hadn't been lonely until now.

"You're playing with fire now…" Jack said tossing the snowball up in the air and catching it in turn.

"It looks more like I'm playing with ice." Silver was bouncing on her heels again, hair curling and uncurling in tight little ringlets of joy. Jack threw the snowball. Silver caught it and threw it back.

"Silver! Jack! Stop that!" North shouted. Silver ran off and Jack followed her, enjoying the game and ignoring North and the others.

It took the others awhile to get the two of them to come back to the main room. When Silver stopped she had a half-frozen elf clutched to her chest.

"Silver, we need to talk to you for a bit. Is that ok?" Tooth asked. Silver nodded, her hair straightening slightly as her fun was cut short. Something in the way Tooth spoke made Silver feel like she was going to be in trouble. The others were wishing they didn't have to do this.

"Jack froze a couple of your elves, someone should help them." Silver directed at North. North nodded and a yeti took the elf from Silver. She waved at him as he was carried off.

"Jack!" North yelled and the winter sprite landed next to Silver.

"Yes?" He said with a devious smile playing on his face.

"We have business now. Silver," North spoke with a surety of a powerful man. Silver watched him as he approached her. "There are rules you need to know."

"Rules?" Silver asked shooing an elf that was offering her a plate of cookies. "Like what?"

"You cannot hurt the children." North said seriously. Silver frowned.

"Why would I hurt children?" Silver asked, offended.

"We weren't saying that you would," Tooth tried to input.

"You live with Pitch…" Bunnymund spoke up at the same time. Silver shot him an evil glare.

"Pitch has no control over me. You cannot judge me by his sins. Judge me by my own or not at all." Silver sneered at the oversized bunny.

"Why," Bunnymund tried to snap back something about her sass.

"Stop it!" North bellowed. Everyone stopped talking. Silver crossed her arms across her chest.

"I don't take kindly to accusations without merit." Silver said.

"No one was accusing you of anything. But it is one of the rules." North said.

"Ok, ok." Silver relented. "What else?" She sat on the edge of the desk that overlooked the workrooms, swinging her feet.

"You cannot interfere with lives either." North said. Silver rolled her eyes.

"I grant wishes, that sort of interferes doesn't it?" Silver asked. Bunnymund and Tooth were off debating something and Sandy was trying to cut in, but no one was paying attention to him.

"I didn't know there were actual rules…" Jack interjected.

"Well…" North rubbed the back of his head.

"Did you make these rules up just for me?" Silver said crossly as her hair grew sharper.

"No!" North defended. "Well, sort of. We didn't have rules until somewhat recently." North laughed heartily in the awkwardness of the moment.

"So you made up these rules just for me?" Silver demanded, anger kinking her curls more. Her eyes were flashing like lightning.

"Well after what Pitch did, we don't want to take any chances." Tooth piped up.

"After what Pitch did?" Silver shot at the fairy. Tooth could only nod back. "What did I just say about judging me by his sins?"

"You can do what you want Silver, but know that if you hurt the children we, as the Guardians, will have to stop you." Bunnymund warned.

"What did Pitch even do that has you all so scared?" Silver demanded feeling her anger seek an exit. Somehow she was afraid of the answer, but she needed to know. At least she no longer needed to ask.

"You really don't know?" Tooth asked with wonder.

"No. I don't." Silver huffed and stamped her foot. "I have a right to know what he did that makes you all so quick to assume I will hurt children. I would do no such thing!"

As the story came out, Silver felt everything fall upon her head. Each sentence of the tale hit her somewhere in her heart that she hadn't known was fragile. Pitch had really done something terrible. As the Guardians spoke, Silver's hair began to straighten. By the time the whole story came out, Silver's had fallen and her hair hung impossibly straight, reaching halfway to the floor.

"I…" Silver said. What could she say? Pitch had done more than enough to cause them to be on edge. She couldn't blame them, nor could she defend her Pitch. Maybe there was nothing to say.

"And after we defeated him, the Nightmares drug him away." Jack said. "We hadn't heard from him again until now." Silver closed her eyes as she tried to think.

"How long ago did this happen?" Silver asked quietly.

"About twelve years ago." North said. The math made her seven or eight. Right around the time when something changed in her shadows and the nightmares came to stay.

"Twelve years? And no one knows where he went?" Silver said, trying in vain to swallow the dread that was clawing up her throat. She, though she tried to avoid thoughts of the past, knew that she had had nightmares all through her childhood. She learned later that it had been the boogeyman himself at fault. Was there something…

"That is correct." North said.

"Oh my," Silver choked on the realization that jumped her. She covered her face.

"What is it?" Jack asked crouching down next to her. Her bright eyes met his ice cold ones before her tears leaked out.

"I was his punishment," She whispered. Jack frowned.

"What?" He asked.

"I was his punishment!" Silver shouted as she covered her face again, eyes impossibly wide. "That's why he gave me nightmares… that's why he was there at all. He was angry that he was stuck there." That didn't explain anything that came after though. Silver felt her heart drop again as she realized why she couldn't fight off the yetis. "And, and, my chains…"

"What are you talking about?" Someone else asked.

"When I was little, I started having nightmares. They never went away. It was Pitch!" Silver tried to explain. "He couldn't leave my room, he told me so…he was imprisoned there. _I was his punishment_." Silver wiped her face. She needed to talk to Pitch. This was too much for her to reconcile in her mind, the Pitch that was kind to her and the Pitch that gave a child nightmares out of spite.

"What chains?" Silver didn't see who asked.

"I accidentally chained Pitch up one time, but when I tried to fight the yetis…" Silver shook her head as if she couldn't believe what she was saying. "I couldn't touch them. My chains only work on Pitch. I'm still his punishment." Silver turned to the window and made to walk towards it. "I need to go,"

"Wait, you can't leave so upset," Tooth said. Silver stopped. Some of the elves were standing there looking confused. They didn't like seeing Silver so upset, none of them did.

"But," Silver tried to protest.

"Besides, the elves want to play more." Jack said with a grin. The group of elves nearby all smiled and nodded, their bells jangling as they smiled up at her. Her hair began to shorten again.

"What about Pitch?" Silver asked, she needed to know his side of this story too, needed to see if he knew what she really was.

"He'll be fine in his hole," Bunnymund shot under his breath.

"Bunny," Tooth reprimanded him. Silver nodded, ignoring Bunnymund's snide remark.

"I wouldn't want him to see me like this anyways…" Silver admitted wiping at her face again. One of the elves tried to hand her a cup of eggnog. She smiled at him and took it. "I don't understand why you all even care what becomes of me." She said, voice small.

"We can't help it," Tooth giggled. "You're just too nice not to care about," She hugged Silver before she could stop herself.

"I'm not that nice," Silver giggled back. "Promise."

"You'd have to be pretty nice to like someone like Pitch," Jack said. Silver blinked. That might be true. "So how about some fun?" Jack smiled forming a snowball in his hand. Silver nodded, wiping her eyes one last time before she drained her glass. She had never liked being sad.

"I could go for some fun," Silver grinned a watery grin.

"Well then, let's go!" Jack threw the snowball at one of the yetis and Silver ran off with him, the elves that loved her trailing them, bells all ringing.

By the end of the day, Silver was happy again and all the elves were tired. Silver had one napping in her arms as she sat at the window with Jack watching the sky.

"I'm glad to have met you." Silver said quietly, trying not to wake the sleeping elf. Jack gave her a lopsided grin.

"You're not what I expected." Was his reply.

"Did you expect some dark little thing that crawled out of the shadows? I don't think the Moon works like that." Silver laughed a little.

"I didn't know what to think." Jack admitted with a shrug.

"You should come visit me sometime." Silver said perking up. The elf in her arms made a noise in his sleep and she paused waiting for the elf to still again.

"Come visit you?" Jack said skeptically.

"Ya."

"In the Cave with Pitch?" Jack added.

"Um…yes." Silver smiled over at him. "I haven't had fun with someone…well…since I was alive really," Silver looked out at the darkening sky again. The silence drew out then, it seemed that talking about the past, what she had been, wasn't something the others did.

The elf suddenly jumped up, as if he'd been awoken by a bad dream. He jumped from Silver's arms and scuttled off with a comical jingling.

"Wonder what scared him." Silver mused.

"Maybe he had a nightmare." Jack said, watching her.

"I doubt it, Pitch doesn't visit here." Silver said. "I haven't had a nightmare once since being here. Not even a little one." She added.

"Isn't that a good thing?" Jack asked. Silver rested her head on her upturned knees.

"You'd think so, but I'm so used to having them I don't sleep well without them." Silver admitted. "That's strange, I know." She grinned awkwardly and looked out of the window.

"Well, you live in the right place for nightmares..." Jack said. Silver laughed.

"That I do." Silver smiled. "You all think it's very strange that I enjoy Pitch's company." Silver said. There was no question.

"I think…" Jack started. "I think it's weird that _Pitch_ likes _you_." He said slowly. Silver raised her eyebrow at him.

"I never thought about it like that…" Silver smiled again. "I doubt he'd ever admit to liking me."

"I don't know, you're pretty likeable." Jack said with a grin.

"Peach did seem to like you." North said walking up to them.

"You really think so? He's never said," Silver asked turning with a smile to him. "He might not like me so much when he finds out I'm his punishment though," Silver felt her heart sinking again as her hair straightened.

"I know he likes you. As far as you being his punishment goes, he likely already knows." North smiled back, but Silver could tell he was uncomfortable talking about Pitch as if he was not a bad guy. "Tooth and Bunny are leaving. Sandy already left."

"We should say goodbye." Silver said to Jack unfolding herself from the window. They went into the other room where Bunny and Tooth were standing.

"We wanted to say goodbye before we left." Tooth said when she spotted Silver. Silver smiled at her.

"It was my pleasure to meet you Toothiana, hopefully we'll meet again sometime." Silver nodded.

"You can always come visit me and my fairies one day." Tooth smiled.

"I'd love to." Silver said and they hugged. Bunny stood there with his arms crossed. "I'll hug you too, you giant bunny." Silver smiled at him. He frowned and acted like he didn't care. Silver bounced over to him and threw her arms around him in a warm hug. "Bye Bunny." She kissed his cheek for good measure. He looked a little bemused at that.

"Goodbye you weird little moonbeam." He shot back with a slight grin. Then they were gone. Silver turned back to North and Jack.

"Can I go home now?" She asked.

"Ready to be rid of us already?" Jack snickered.

"Of course I am!" Silver laughed back. "Just don't tell the elves." Silver added, half-serious, in a whisper.

"You're welcome to come visit whenever you like…except around Christmas. Then I'm busy." North said clapping her on the back. Silver's hair suddenly curled tightly in delight.

"I'll have to come visit my little buddies and drink more eggnog." Silver said throwing her arms around North in a surprise hug. She was happy because she was going home.

"Good! Good!" North said as Silver turned to Jack. Her eyes were bright as they looked at him.

"Goodbye Ice-Pop." Silver said.

"Bye Twinkle-Toes." Jack smiled back. Silver bounced on her heels for a second before tackling Jack with a hug.

"You have to come visit me sometime," She said into his shoulder.

"Only if you let me breathe!" He teased. She let him go.

"Now I just have to remember how to get there…" Silver smiled before she laughed, filling the workshop with her happiness as she shot off into the sky. Some of the elves that had been nearby looked after her sadly until North told them to get back to work.


	8. Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven: Playing

Silver landed in the dark of her home with the grandest of smiles on her face.

"Pitch?" She called into the dark. Instead of an answer, she felt something come up behind her and arms were suddenly around her waist.

"How was your trip?" Pitch's voice purred in her ear. Silver smiled even broader, North was right, Pitch must like her.

"I made some new friends," She replied covering his hands with her own.

"I bet they loved you," Pitch drawled, his chin resting on her shoulder.

"The elves certainly did. They brought me eggnog whenever I wanted some." Silver said, enjoying Pitch's arms around her.

"I thought I smelled eggnog." He pressed his lips against her neck.

"You missed me, didn't you?" Silver asked as he continued to kiss her neck and shoulder. Pitch turned Silver around and smirked at her.

"Why would you say that?" Pitch asked and before Silver could answer Pitch took her mouth with his and kissed her blind. When they came up for air, Silver's laugh filled the cavern.

"If it helps, I missed you too." She said and Pitch just kissed her again. This kiss was longer and Silver had to brace herself against his shoulders as he mercilessly took all that he wanted from her mouth. Silver found herself with her back to the wall when Pitch met her eyes again.

"I know a game we could play." Pitch spoke from somewhere deep in his throat. Silver grinned at him, she'd heard his wish during the first kiss.

"I'd love to play, my little nightmare." Silver smiled running her fingers through his hair.

"I'm anything but a _little_ nightmare." Pitch said with a dark twinkle in his eye. Silver smirked with her eyebrows raised.

"I'll believe it when I see it, sweetheart." Silver laughed again as Pitch hoisted her up the wall and kissed her again, his hand twined in her tightly curled hair.

…

Pitch laid across Silver's body on the bed, his head rested on her left shoulder. She had her arm draped over his bare chest and her legs were twined around him.

"I like that game." Silver said kissing the side of Pitch's head, her hand danced across his chest. Pitch nodded.

"I haven't done that in…" Pitch thought for a moment. "A long time." Silver ran her fingers through her hair and resituated herself with Pitch. They were both tired and content to be so.

"You bite." Silver said after a moment of silence.

"You didn't seem to mind." Pitch retorted catching her hand in his, stopping it from playing across his skin.

"I didn't at the time, but that one on my thigh is throbbing just now." Silver squeezed his hand.

"Sorry."

"Are you really?" Silver asked skeptically.

"No." Pitch replied candidly. Silver pressed her head against his temple.

"I thought not. Maybe next time I'll bite you and see how _you_ like it." She nipped at his ear. He retaliated by nipping her fingers. "Ow." She complained with a smile.

"Tell me about your time at the Pole." Pitch said suddenly. Silver put her other arm around him and sighed. She shifted beneath him again.

"It took some time after you left for me to get North to calm down enough to listen to my story, but I got it out." Silver started. She was trying to remember what all happened, her brain was a little scattered at the moment. "I spent most of the time running around, harassing the yetis and elves actually." Silver admitted.

"Did you?" Pitch asked, eyes closed as he listened to her voice thrumming in her throat.

"I did." Silver smiled against his head. She loved being this close to Pitch, especially when she'd been away from him for a while. Then Silver frowned. "They told me what you did." She said softly. Pitch's hand stilled on hers.

"Did they now?" Pitch said carefully. "What did they tell you?"

"They told me you stole all the teeth from the Tooth Fairy, and all of her fairies…" Silver said. "And that you gave all the children nightmares. Made them lose hope."

"And that I ruined Easter for that oversized bunny?" Pitch offered. Silver nodded. Pitch rolled over so that Silver was beneath him. Her eyes searched his for something, maybe an apology she knew he wouldn't have.

"Yes." Silver's eyes were wide as he watched her.

"You're afraid to ask me why." Pitch said watching her face, looking everywhere but in her eyes. Silver nodded. Pitch sighed. "I wanted to be believed in." Pitch said simply, rolling off Silver to look at the ceiling from his back. Silver moved so that she rested against his chest again. Pitch's robe was back.

"Wanted?" Silver asked.

"I was defeated." Pitch said, not looking at her.

"And I was your punishment." Silver whispered. Pitch didn't respond. "You knew, didn't you?" She sat up, her hand splayed on his chest as she watched his face. Her eyebrows were drawn together.

"Cally was my punishment." Pitch said after a moment. He wasn't quite looking at her still.

"And Cally died." Silver spoke softly. "That's cruel." She said. Pitch's hand rested on the back of her head.

"Cruel is a matter of perspective." Pitch replied. Silver moved to peer into his face better. He watched her touch his cheek with her fingertips.

"I don't think it's wrong to want to be believed in," Silver spoke softly. "So if Cally was your punishment, what does that make me?" She asked after another silent moment. Silver honestly wanted to know why Pitch had let her stay with him after all that. She knew he hadn't enjoyed being trapped in her room, and while what just happened between them said one thing, she needed to hear it to make it real.

"You forget that Cally is a part of you." Pitch pointed out. Silver rested her head against Pitch's chest again. He played with her hair.

"You're the only one I've been able to contain with those chains," Silver said. She heard Pitch's heartbeat speed up a bit as he thought about that fact. "So am I somehow still a punishment?" Silver asked softly, worried. Pitch didn't respond for some time. In some ways, it was punishment for him to care for her. In other ways, it was the best thing that had ever happened to the Nightmare King. As far as those chains go, Pitch has little reason to believe she would turn against him. Silver was all love, after all.

"You may be my punishment, but you're also my prize." Pitch said finally. Silver smiled against the front of his robes.

"I believe in you Pitch. I always have." Silver said. Pitch groaned.

"You'll be the death of me yet." He said rolling so that she was beneath him once more. He grinned at her with those shark-sharp teeth of his shining in the half-light.

"I hope so." Silver teased cradling his face in her hands. Pitch made a low sound in his throat and kissed her with enough force to push her back into the mattress.

Jack landed in the dark of the cave after wavering for a bit outside. Silver had invited him, what's the worst that could happen? Nevertheless, Jack held his staff at the ready as he padded along the cobblestone.

"What's this?" Pitch asked from the shadows behind Jack. Jack whipped around, his staff pointed directly at Pitch's chest. "Did you reconsider my offer to join me? You're a bit late for that." Pitch asked skeptically watching the winter sprite with an aloof smirk.

"I'm here for Silver," Jack said, eyes narrowed.

"She's in the other room." Pitch said easily, bobbing his head towards the shadows behind him, watching Jack for signs of an attack.

"She told me to come visit her," Jack said warily following Pitch with his staff as the Nightmare King strode across the room with a flippant, self-assured air. Pitch nodded.

"Silver?" Pitch called into the dark. There was a shuffling sound and Silver appeared from the other room.

"Here I am!" She announced with her usual smile.

"You have a visitor." Pitch motioned to the winter sprite.

"Jack!" Silver's hair curled tightly and Pitch wrinkled his nose at her, offended that she was happier to see Jack than him. Who knew he was the jealous type?

Silver flung herself at Jack and enveloped in one of her now semi-famous hugs. Jack was looking over her head with a slight grin and a wary eye on Pitch.

"I didn't think you'd come!" Silver laughed, stepping back.

"You said you wanted to have some fun," Jack grinned at her.

"Hey!" Pitch suddenly interjected. "You can't just do that!" Both Silver and Jack stared at Pitch and his suddenly outburst.

"Do what?" Jack asked, eyebrow raised, mischievous smile still playing on his face.

"You can't just…" Pitch sputtered angrily. "Just!" Pitch's eyes were somewhere between furious and frightened. "You can't just do that!"

"What?" Jack asked again. "You lost me." Pitch grumbled something incoherent and angry sounding before he turned and stormed away. Jack and Silver exchanged a look.

"Look what you've done, Jack. You broke Pitch." Silver said rolling her eyes with a slight grin. She looked off in the direction he had gone.

"Had I known it was that easy…" Jack said sarcastically. Silver laughed.

"Let me go talk to him quick, then we can go have some fun, ok?" Silver said. "Wait here." She bounced off, leaving Jack temporarily alone in the dark.

"Pitch?" Silver asked coming up on the nightmare himself. He was facing away from her.

"Where's Jack?" Pitch asked not turning back to her.

"In the big room still, I just came to make sure you were ok. You're acting weird." Silver said moving to stand next to him. Pitch glanced at her from the corner of his eye.

"I'm fine." Pitch said sharply. "Go have fun." Silver touched his arm. Pitch tried not to recoil. He wasn't used to feeling in his chest and so he switched to anger, and he wanted anything but to be angry with Silver.

"I'll be back soon." Silver pulled herself up to his cheek and kissed it gently. "Don't miss me too much." She kissed his lips then and winked at him, then left him standing there in the dark. Pitch scoffed at his own foolishness and went off himself. He had his own things to do after all.

Silver was smiling when she returned to the big room where Jack was looking around. He turned to her with a barely contained snicker when he heard her enter.

"Everything alright?" Jack asked.

"Yup, let's go have fun." Silver grinned broader and they both flew out of the cave and into the morning sun.

Pitch heard Silver's laugh as he made his way back to the cave. He hid from view and watched as Jack and Silver twirled around the ice on the pond in the afternoon light. Silver was holding on to Jack as he spun her around. She was laughing more than Pitch had ever heard her laugh. Pitch hated that he couldn't make her laugh like that. Silver let go of Jack's hand and went spinning off into one of the snow banks along the edge of the pond.

"Jack!" Silver giggled and she shook the snow out of her halo of silver curls.

"Oops," Jack grinned back, moving to help her back to her feet. Pitch turned away from them, moving back into the darker shadows before going home. Something green was eating at the back of his mind.

Silver looked past Jack suddenly, something had caught her eye in the shadows.

"What?" Jack asked peering in the same direction as Silver. She shook her head.

"Nothing." Silver said. "Just thought I saw someone coming through the trees." She shrugged.

"I don't see anyone." Jack said. Silver nodded then turned her bright eyes back to him, her smile mostly gone.

"I have a question," Silver said seriously. Jack motioned for her to ask as he leaned on his staff.

"What is it?"

"Have you ever heard a voice in the dark that didn't seem to have a body? Or do you know of someone that can do that?" Silver was wringing her hands now. Jack frowned as he thought.

"Only person I can think of that does that is Pitch. Why?" Jack replied.

"I know it isn't Pitch though. You sure there isn't somebody else?" Silver pleaded. Jack shrugged.

"No one I've heard of. But I don't exactly know everything." Jack smiled at her reassuringly. "I bet it's just Pitch playing tricks on you."

"I know it's not him though. It's not his voice. This voice, he knows things, and he's cruel."

"Pitch can be cruel." Jack offered. Silver's hair went sharp.

"It's not Pitch!" She asserted angrily. "And he's not cruel. Not to me." Silver crossed her arms. Jack held up his hands in surrender.

"What did this voice say to you to get you so upset anyway?" Jack asked pulling Silver out onto the pond again. Silver let him spin her around a few times before she responded.

"He told me my name the first time. Told me I was Silver, not Cally anymore. The second time, he was just mean. He yelled and it echoed in my head until Pitch found me on the floor." Silver shivered at the memory. Jack let her go and she slid to a stop across from him.

"That's odd." Jack said.

"He hasn't talked to me since then, and he never says anything if Pitch is around. And I can't chain him because he's just a voice." Silver added.

"Chain him?" Jack asked, a grin tugging at his lips.

"I can make chains from moonlight that bind people. Well, I assume people. It works on Pitch anyways. Honestly, it might just be Pitch I can chain now that I think about it." Silver shrugged.

"You've chained up Pitch?" Jack's eyebrow was raised about a mile off his forehead. Silver smacked him with the back of her hand. "Ow! I didn't say anything!" Jack laughed at Silver's disapproving face.

"It was an accident," Silver snorted at him. "Should I try to chain you up? Make you wait for spring to thaw your pond?" Silver shifted her weight so that she was in more of a fighting stance. Jack just stuck his tongue out at her. She shot a chain at him and he dodged it easily. Silver spent the rest of the afternoon chasing Jack around in the woods and across the pond, trying to chain him down. But that winter sprite sure was quick…

So she only caught him once, and that wasn't with her chains.


	9. Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight: Challenging

When Silver made it back to the Cave, it was after dark. She stood there for a moment, wondering if Pitch was back yet when a noise turned her attention across the expanse of the Cave.

"Were you talking about me today?" The voice asked cheekily from the shadows.

"Who are you?" Silver demanded, ice-cold fear gripping her heart.

"You _were_ talking about me! I'm flattered." The voice laughed.

"Pitch!" Silver called.

"When are you gonna call into the dark looking for me, my sweet?" The voice sounded different today, less angry, but somehow, more dangerous.

"PITCH!" Silver's scream echoed in the cavern and Pitch heard it from one of the far rooms where he had been musing.

"Silver? What is it?" Pitch asked appearing next to her. Silver grabbed his arm and held on tight.

"The voice is back," She whispered. Pitch frowned.

"I don't hear anything." Pitch said, but he felt the presence of something that wasn't his. He put his arm around Silver protectively.

"Kozmotis Pitchiner. Well, well. If it isn't the boogeyman himself!" The voice cackled from the shadows. "I'd say I'm honored, but I'm not." Pitch sneered at the shadows.

"Show yourself!" Pitch demanded.

"Make me!" The voice mocked. Silver gripped at Pitch's arm.

"Who are you?" Pitch demanded.

"I wouldn't tell my sweet little Silver, what makes you think I'll tell you?" The voice demanded. He sounded less pleased to be talking to Pitch, who was sneering into the dark.

"Why don't you just leave us alone?" Silver shot a bright light in the voice's direction, but it bounced harmlessly against the wall before fading.

"Leave you alone?" The voice made an odd gurgling noise. "Leave you alone?" Now it made a choking-laughing noise. "You would be nothing, had I not been there!"

"What do you mean? Been where?" Silver asked. Pitch didn't need to be the Nightmare King to know Silver was afraid. It was plain in her voice. The fact Silver was afraid this voice would take her away from him, however, only made Pitch angry.

"Little Cally, all alone in the dark…" The voice was making sing-song noises now. Silver shivered.

"Tell me who you are!" Silver demanded.

"You're making me angry boy," Pitch growled into the dark.

"I'm shaking in my boots, Mr. Boogeyman, sir." The voice taunted.

"What do you want?" Silver asked, pulling at Pitch's arm when he moved away from her as if to attack the dark.

"I want you, Silver. Just you." The voice purred. Silver's eyes went as wide as the full moon.

"What?" Silver felt fear race across her scalp as all her hairs stood on end.

"She's mine, you can't have her!" Pitch roared, shooting sand at the voice. Silver was taken aback at Pitch's sudden claim of her. The sand balled up at the wall and hovered there for a moment before shooting back at the one who had sent it. Silver stepped in front of Pitch and with a wave of her arms a bright shield had appeared, blocking the sand from hitting its new mark.

"What's this then?" The voice demanded, sounding angrier than before.

"You do not come into my home and attack my family. Either you calm down and tell us who you are, or you leave until such a time that you can be civil." Silver said in a very powerful voice. The voice from the dark was silent for a moment.

"Silver, I do wish you'll come with me one day." The voice said with an attempt at civility. She responded by shooting sharp beams of moonlight at him. In the sudden burst of light, Silver and Pitch both saw a shadow running the other way across the stone.

They both knew when the thing was gone.

"Pitch…" Silver turned to him, limbs shaking as she covered her mouth with her hands. Pitch ran his hands over her arms and she shook harder for a moment before burying her face in the front of his robes. Pitch found his arms went around her easily now and that his hand rubbed her back as she cried without him consciously trying to do it.

"Silver," Pitch said after a few moments of her silent crying. She could only shake her head against his chest. Her hair was long and straight and it didn't move around his fingers when he ran a hand over the back of her head. "Silver look at me." Pitch commanded, pulling her back. She blinked at him and wiped at her eyes.

"Pitch, I'm scared. He wants to hurt you and he wants to take me away." Silver whimpered, shoulders still not as square as they should be. Pitch put one hand against her cheek and the other was at her waist.

"I'm not gonna let that happen." Pitch said. "Do you understand me? That boy will not harm you…or me for that matter." Pitch's voice was strong and sure. Silver nodded with a sniff.

"I don't know why it frightens me so much…" Silver said rubbing again at her watery eyes. "But something about him…I think he's more dangerous than he's acting." Silver said. Pitch shrugged.

"We'll be fine, I've fought stronger enemies before, I'm sure." Pitch assured her, pushing the hair from her forehead. It swayed back slowly. Silver looked at him and threw her arms around his neck, holding him tighter than she ever had.

"I hope so." Silver attempted a smiled then. "At least now you know I'm not crazy." Pitch grinned at her and nodded in agreement.

"I never said you were crazy." Pitch added. Silver laughed a little.

"You didn't have to." She rested her head against his shoulder and they just stood there for a moment.

"How was your day with Jack?" Pitch asked, hoping the change in subject would calm her. Silver leaned back in his arms and wrinkled her nose at him.

"He taught me to ice skate." Silver spoke as she unwrapped her arms from around Pitch's neck. "Should we do something about what happened?" She asked, looking behind her at the dark. Pitch shrugged.

"We can decide tomorrow. Come now." Pitch took her hand causing her hair to curl up in joy as he led her to the bedroom. "You look tired, my little nightmare." Silver nodded following him easily.

"Tell me more about your day." Pitch said as Silver curled herself against his chest once they'd laid down. She made a humming noise in her throat as if she didn't want to talk.

"Jack took me on a trip to some of the wintering countries and showed me how he spreads frost, and I managed to hear some wishes while we were around. Then we came back and he taught me to ice skate. I fell down a lot because I have terrible balance apparently." Silver smiled against his chest. "Jack laughed at me a lot." Silver yawned then.

"Sounds like you enjoyed yourself," Pitch said carefully.

"Maybe you could come sometime, I'd teach you to ice skate too." Silver's eyes were closed now and she burrowed closer to Pitch as she fell into sleep.

"I doubt Jack would take kindly that," Pitch said softly pressing his lips to her forehead. Then he closed his eyes and wondered what would happen if he tried to be as free as she was.

But even the thought of it was absurd.

Pitch found he was alone when he awoke the next morning. As he sat up a strange smell came to him…was someone cooking? Pitch followed his nose to one of the anterooms of the cave and stopped at the opening, perplexed.

"What is going on in here?" Pitch demanded. Silver grinned at him from across the room, a black skillet clutched in her hand.

"Pitch! I didn't think you'd be up yet. But what do I know?" Silver laughed nervously.

"What is all this?" Pitch asked entering the room. There was a large, flat-topped rock in the middle of the room and another along the left wall. The one along the wall had an opening in the middle, with a small fire burning in it, where Silver set the skillet that sizzled and popped.

"It's a kitchen. More or less." Silver shrugged, shaking the skillet.

"I can see that." Pitch frowned. "But how'd it get here?"

"Apparently I can grant my own wishes, if they're small enough." Silver grinned. "When I'm nervous I like to keep my hands busy. And I always liked cooking," Silver went to the center rock, a sort of island, and picked up a plate that had been sitting there. "So I'm making breakfast." Pitch watched her go back to the fire and shake the skillet again, the sausage links inside popped and sizzled as she did so.

"So you wished for a kitchen?" Pitch questioned.

"Well, sort of. I wished for some toast, and a loaf of bread showed up. Then I wished for something to toast it with, and the fire happened, and then one thing led to another and suddenly, Kitchen!" Silver smiled at him. "So you hungry?"

"You do know we don't have to eat, right?" Pitch offered stepping fully into the kitchen. Silver nodded, scooping the sausages onto the plate.

"But we can. Can't you?" Silver asked setting the plate before him. Pitch gave her an apathetic look and picked one of the sausages from the plate with his fingers, taking a bite instead of answering.

"What else are you making?" Pitch asked. Silver smiled.

"Eggs, toast, and anything else you'd like." Silver said with a wink.

"Come here." Pitch said. Silver raised her eyebrow at him.

"Why? I'm cooking." Silver replied. Pitch just looked at her and she sighed, walking over to him. "Yes, Pitch?" she asked.

"You don't have to be nervous." He said touching her face. Silver frowned at him. "Unless of course, you're nervous of me. That I can allow." Pitch teased. Silver snorted at him.

"How can you say I don't have to be nervous?" She stepped back to her fire and skillet, cracking egg after egg into the pan.

"Easy." Pitch said after she added the fifth egg. "I won't eat that many." Silver threw the shells into the fire and placed her hands firmly on the rock before her, back to Pitch. "Why are you nervous?"

"Don't make me say it." Silver said. She moved from the rock to the fire again, stirring the eggs as they cooked. "What should we do about it?" She added when Pitch didn't say anything.

"What do you want to do about it?" Pitch asked. Silver added a plate of scrambled eggs to the center rock-table.

"I want to not worry about it. But I can't _not_ worry about. He's dangerous." Silver said simply.

"Got any silverware?" Pitch asked, avoiding her statement. She glowered at him and suddenly silverware fell from the sky. Silver head-butted her palm.

"I didn't mean that much." She snorted, picking up the excess and throwing them onto the other counter.

"That's," Pitch thought for a moment. "A neat trick." He was mocking her.

"I don't need you to be mean to me right now, Pitch." Silver hissed at him. "I'm still distraught." She sat on the island next to Pitch, who was sitting on the only stool in the room.

"Distraught?" Pitch asked taking a bite of his breakfast, wondering when the last time he'd eaten actual food.

"I don't like not knowing what someone is up to." Silver said, nibbling at a piece of toast. "Especially when I know he means someone I care about, harm." Silver added, her fingers digging into her thigh where her hand had been resting. Pitch watched her.

"You told him I was your family," Pitch said. It wasn't an accusation exactly, but somehow it still seemed like one.

"You're all I've got, Pitch." Silver said not looking at him. Pitch moved to stand before her and she looked up at him.

"You talk too much." Pitch said with a smirk. Silver shrugged. Pitch leaned towards her and kissed her hard.

She was all he had too.

Silver and Pitch went their separate ways after the kiss ended, both having a job to do. Silver flew around the world, but wasn't focused enough to land and actually grant any wishes. Silver ended up by the pond where she and Jack had been skating.

"Silver?" Jack's voice came from behind her. Silver turned to him, surprised.

"Oh, hello!" Silver smiled at Jack. "Didn't really expect to see you here."

"This is my pond," Jack said, eyebrow raised, as he pointed to the ice beneath their feet.

"Oh." Silver rubbed the back of her neck.

"Is something wrong?" Jack asked running the end of his staff across the ice creating brilliant new patterns.

"The voice came back, I think he heard us talking about him." Silver said, looking at her feet. Jack frowned.

"What happened this time?" Jack asked. Silver took a deep breath.

"He threatened Pitch and said he wanted to take me away. He tried to hurt Pitch too." Silver spoke quickly, as if she wanted it out as fast as she could manage so that she didn't have to dwell on it.

"So Pitch heard him too this time?" Jack asked. Silver only nodded. "Why would the voice want to take you away?" Jack added.

"He said I was his." Silver said. "He said he wanted me to come with him." Silver shivered although she wasn't cold.

"That's strange." Jack said as he strode around her, adding layer after layer of ice to the area.

"Any thoughts of what we should do? Because I have no idea and I need something to do." Silver asked, her eyes were wide and searching. Jack didn't like seeing his friend so obviously worried.

"I'd go tell North. He's older than me, he'll know more." Jack shrugged. "Want me to take you?" He asked. Silver shrugged.

"I should talk to Pitch about it." Silver attempted a smile then. "But, while I'm here, wanna ice skate again?" Jack smiled back.

"Sure." Jack held out his hands and they spent the rest of the afternoon spinning around the ice.

Silver found Pitch wondering around the big cavern, followed by a large black horse made of sand. She knew it was one of the Nightmares that she had been told about, but it was different to actually see one up close. Normally they avoided her and her light. The creature snorted at her when it saw her, thinking she was an intruder maybe.

"Hello," Silver said, more to the Nightmare than to Pitch. "What's he doing here?" Silver addressed Pitch this time.

"They come and go. Usually they just hide in the shadows until I call them." Pitch said patting the horse on the side of the muzzle.

"Why'd you call him?" Silver approached slowly, the Nightmare snorted at her again.

"I had this one watching out for that voice." Pitch held the skittish horse still as Silver reached out to touch the front of his face. The Nightmare made a noise in the back of its throat and calmed as Silver stroked the sand of his face. Silver smiled.

"Did he find anything?" Silver asked cooing at the horse.

"No," Pitch said, running a hand along the creature's neck.

"Did you ever see my white nightmare?" Silver asked. Pitch looked at her, bemused.

"A white nightmare? No. I never saw such a thing." Pitch said.

"When I was at the Pole, I wanted to tell you I was ok, and this little white nightmare appeared and flew off. He must've gotten lost…" Silver said softly, slightly worried about her little white nightmare. She had assumed it went away with the other nightmares once it had returned, but she hadn't thought to ask about it till now.

"Maybe," Pitch said, dismissing the topic. Silver sighed, still touching the Nightmare before her.

"I talked to Jack today, he said we should ask North about the voice because he's older." Silver was scratching the Nightmare's ear and the horse whinnied at her.

"I'm older than North, and I've never come across such a thing before." Pitch said darkly. Silver's eyes widened in surprise.

"How old are you then?" Silver asked. The Nightmare shifted his weight towards Silver and she had to adjust her footing. The creature seemed to enjoy her scratches.

"I'm as old as the fear of the dark," Pitch said after a moment.

"So you're a pedophile?" Silver teased with a giggle. Pitch was taken aback and Silver laughed at how large his eyes grew in his surprise.

"Excuse me?" Pitch sputtered.

"I'm rather young compared to you." Silver said trying to hide her smile.

"I like to think I've transcended age," Pitch snapped.

"That doesn't sound pompous at all," Silver chided, eyes sparkling up at him through the dark. Pitch shoed the Nightmare from between them.

"You're awfully cheeky tonight," Pitch said watching her. Silver just smiled up at him.

"So what if I am?" Silver asked with a shrug as she rocked back on her heels.

"I might have to break you of that," Pitch warned with a dark smirk.

"I doubt you could." Silver rocked up to her toes. "Besides, you'd have to catch me first!" She turned on her toes and ran off into the dark. Pitch laughed then; glad to have something to do. His little Silver couldn't outrun him. Not here.

Silver was running, but not fast enough to turn into the shooting star she was famous for. Pitch moved easily through the shadows to stand before her, wicked grin splitting his face. Silver skidded to a halt, gave an adorable little squeak that Pitch rather enjoyed, and bolted off in another direction.

"Silver…" Pitch whispered into the shadows that chased after Silver as she ran. He could feel a sliver of fear forming in her mind as they kept up the game, but it was only the fear of getting caught. "Silver…" He purred again. She stopped and peered into the shadows.

"Pitch?" Silver turned and ran again with a little shriek when his grin became visible from one of the darker shadows.

"Silver…" Her name came again in the same tone. But this one was different. Darker.

Pitch felt Silver's fear spark and grow. There was something else she was afraid of that wasn't his. Pitch growled and moved faster through the shadows, appearing before Silver. She didn't seem to recognize him right away.

"Silver?" Pitch said scowling. She blinked and then sighed.

"I heard his voice." Silver spoke. "It was echoing in my head again."

"He's not here." Pitch told her. He would have felt the intrusion. "But he still ruined our little game." Pitch wrinkled his nose in distaste. Silver nodded and the fear drained from her face.

"You wouldn't have caught me," Silver said crossing her arms. Pitch narrowed his eyes at her and moved across the room before she could blink.

"You think so?" Pitch purred in her ear as his arms wound around her. Silver leaned back against him, slowly relaxing.

"We need to do something about that voice," Silver replied. Pitch growled, but she felt him nod against her hair.

"If I could just get my hands on him…" Pitch mused crossly. It was Silver's turn to nod.

"Should I go talk to North? Or someone else maybe?" Silver asked, still content to just lean against Pitch as they stood together in the dark.

"I have something else to check on first," Pitch said pulling away from her. Silver frowned at him.

"What is it?" Silver asked.

"I'll tell you later," Pitch said, placing one hand on either side of her face. "Now stay here." He commanded staring Silver down. Silver nodded absently with a slight smile. Then he kissed her briefly and left the room.


	10. Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine: Clattering

Silver made her way back towards the other end of the caves easily. Taking her time to run her fingers along the rock walls and enjoy the coolness of the stone. It was a beautiful place, even if it was dark.

Silver's musings were interrupted by the clatter of what sounded surprisingly like bones. She stepped into one of the anterooms, where she thought the noise had come from, and saw nothing, even when she lit the room with moonbeams. Silver frowned, thinking maybe she had simply imagined the noise, but then she heard that strange clattering again.

Silver followed the noise down the hall, and then down another. There was this odd, chattering laughter as Silver closed in on the bone clattering noise. Silver sent lights out ahead of her, as the shadows were concealing whatever she was chasing. What she saw both surprised and enchanted her.

"Hello, little guy." Silver said, before her, trapped at the end of a dead-end hall, stood a little skeleton. He was no more than two feet tall, and his skull, which should have been small and frozen in a ghastly grin, was comically large and oddly expressive, currently frowning as he wrung his boney little hands. "I promise I won't hurt you." Silver extended her hands to him, crouching down to smile at him. The light she cast around him seemed to worry him, but he just watched her with the hollows were eyes should go. Silver could tell that he could still see her, even without the eyes.

The little skeleton clattered as he shifted from one foot to another and tried to escape through the corner of the hall, but to no avail. Silver tried to smile softer at him, hoping to calm him.

"Can you speak?" She asked him. The skeleton stopped, as if considering her words and shook his round skull that seemed funnily oversized and oblong for his short body and limbs. "No? Or you don't want to?"

"E." The little skeleton said, looking around as if for help. "NeeT." The voice was small and skittish just like the body it came from. Silver inched forward.

"What?" Silver asked gently. "What language is that?" She inched forward again and the little skeleton watched her warily. The skeleton didn't attempt to answer this time. When he saw that Silver was within a two feet of him, he chattered at her and jumped back against the stone wall again. "It's ok!" Silver tried to assure him. "It's ok!" But the skeleton wouldn't hear it. He chattered until it looked as though he'd lose all his little teeth, then he bolted past Silver, knocking her over, before he laughed like the wind through bones and disappeared into the dark.

Silver sat there on the stone floor for a moment, bewildered by what had just happened. She'd never seen such a thing before and yet the little skeleton reminded her of Santa's elves somehow. He definitely didn't look like he was his own creature. Someone else, someone with some power, was pulling his strings. She wondered then, had that little skeleton had some purpose here?

Silver stood, adjusted her dress and brushed the dust from her legs, before making her way back through the labyrinth, hoping Pitch would return soon.

Silver didn't have to wait long for by the time she'd made it to the bedroom area she could hear Pitch moving around. She stood in the doorway until he noticed her presence. Pitch looked at her from where he had just sat on the bed and motioned for her to come closer, a look of determination on his face.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" Silver asked stopping an arm's length from him.

"I did," Pitch spoke carefully, but he still didn't look happy. This worried her.

"Is everything alright?" Silver asked. Pitch reached his long arms out to her and pulled her to him. She rested her hands on his shoulders as he studied her throat with his hands on her hips.

"It will be," Pitch said absently. Silver ran a hand through his hair and he looked up at her with those strange silver-gold and shadow eyes of his. He looked more than haunted tonight.

"What is it, Pitch?" Silver asked again, worry seeping into her thoughts.

"I saw an old friend today," Pitch said.

"Isn't that a good thing?" Silver asked, surprised.

"He was dying," Pitch told her, watching her throat again as she breathed as if watching her face was too much for him.

"Is he going to be ok?" Silver asked, alarmed. She hadn't known Pitch had had any friends. From what she'd heard, all he had were enemies.

"He told me something bothersome before he died," Pitch said, avoiding her question while still answering it, his hands holding onto her tighter. Silver held her hands against his face as if the gesture could grant him some strength or perhaps some peace. "He told me something darker than night was prowling the shadows. Something more evil than this world has ever seen in daylight. Something deadly." Pitch was frowning at the memory.

"What's worse than the boogeyman?" Silver asked innocently.

"I don't know," Pitch said gravely. It was absurd for him to feel the way he did then. He was fear, he shouldn't be afraid. Yet he was. He was afraid of what could be darker than him, more powerful than him. And he was afraid for Silver too because he knew that whatever was prowling out there, it wanted Silver for its own.

And Pitch would do anything to protect what was his.

"Oh Pitch," Silver said running her hands through his hair again. "Don't look so worried." She pleaded.

"I am worried. Something powerful is out there and it wants you." Pitch told her. Silver felt a pang in her heart as she did every time Pitch made her feel like he truly cared for her.

"Well you know what?" Silver said, moving so that she sat on his lap with her arms around his neck. Pitch watched her, wondering what she was up to. "It doesn't matter what He wants, no matter how powerful He is, and do you know why?" Silver asked. Pitch didn't answer right away. He only looked at her as she smiled at him as bright as the moon in the night sky.

"Well?" Pitch said, sounding mildly impatient.

"Because He can't take me away from you." Silver told Pitch. "He won't be able to make me not want to be here with you. Nothing He can do will make me leave this place. I'll be here until you tire of me or tell me to leave." Silver was still smiling at him and Pitch was momentarily speechless. Pitch had harbored a secret fear that Silver was unhappy in the dark with him and that one day she would wise up and leave him there, alone with nothing but the shadows. That fate shouldn't bother him, all he had wanted while locked in little Cally's room was to be free to go back to his shadows and caves, but now, it seemed so unpleasant without his Silver.

"I will never tire of you," Pitch said his hand moving to brush the curly silver strands from her face. "Nor will I ever ask you to leave." Her hair curled itself tightly around his fingers.

"Good." Silver smiled broader now. "Because I'm not going anywhere." Then she kissed him and they both fell back on the bed. Silver made an odd sound in her throat as she sat atop the nightmare. "Let's play a game." She said, wiggling her eyebrows at him. Pitch raised his brow at her.

"What sort of game?" Pitch asked knowingly.

"I think you'll figure it out." Silver ran her hand over his chest, fingers darting beneath the edges of his cloak. "Why don't you wear a shirt?" She asked honestly.

"Why don't you wear pants?" Pitch retorted, allowing her to continue her investigation of his torso. The cloak moved away as she pulled and played with the dark shadow-fabric.

"I don't need pants." Silver wrinkled her nose at him.

"Well, I don't need a shirt." Pitch replied, his fingers playing at the hem of her dress. Pitch watched her and wondered why he felt so strongly about her. He had never cared for anything but himself until her. Then a thought dawned on him.

"You've ruined me," Pitch said rolling so that Silver was beneath him.

"That's my job, sweetie." Silver managed with an adorable smirk before Pitch kissed her again. Pitch just kissed her harder and deeper. She had truly ruined him, Pitch thought. That's why the Man in the Moon had picked little Cally Moonborne all that time ago. The Man had known what she'd do to him, that she'd ruin him like this. Pitch wanted to be angry, but with Silver in his arms and her taste on his lips, he could only be thankful.

Not that Pitch would tell that to the Man in the Moon…

"Who was your friend?" Silver asked when their game was through. Pitch grumbled something incoherent from behind her, not wanting to think about unpleasant things.

"He was the last of the Dream Pirates." Pitch finally said. Silver shimmied closer to Pitch, who had his arm were around her.

"Dream Pirates?" Silver wondered.

"They were these ferocious marauders that loved to pluck good dreams from sleeping children. And they behaved so much better than the Fearlings ever did." Pitch said remembering the Golden Age and how wonderful that time truly was for him.

"And the Fearlings?" Silver asked.

"They were wispy shadow creatures that delighted in causing nightmares and did my bidding easily." Pitch told her.

"I see." Silver said. "Were you sorry that this last Dream Pirate died?"

"He was the last reminder of the Golden Age. It is truly over." Pitch said.

"When was the Golden Age?" Silver asked, she'd never heard of such a thing. Pitch chuckled softly against the back of her neck. She'd never heard Pitch speak of the past like that before, and it fascinated her.

"A very long time ago."

"What did the Dream Pirates look like?" Silver asked, remembering the skeleton she had cornered early.

"Why are you so curious today?" Pitch asked.

"I saw something today." Silver said. "A little skeleton. I was wondering if it was maybe a Dream Pirate or a Fearling."

"What sort of skeleton?" Pitch asked.

"He was about two feet tall and had this oblong skull that looked too large for his body." Silver said. "And he chattered a lot."

"I've never heard of such a thing." Pitch said closing his eyes, pulling Silver closer with a sigh. "Did it do anything? Or say anything?"

"Not really. I followed it, then cornered it, and it ran away." Silver said, her eyes also closed.

"It's probably nothing. Just some creature looking for something to do." Pitch tried to assure her. Silver was on her way to dreamland, so she didn't catch the worry in his voice. Pitch knew it wasn't just some random happening. It had to be connected to the voice, that thing, whatever thing it was, that was somehow stronger and more evil than Pitch, the Nightmare King. Silver nodded, readjusting herself before she fell asleep. Pitch smiled as he blew at the golden dream sand, turning it into the most beautiful of nightmares.

The next morning Pitch went off to try to find some leads on who the voice was and Silver had agreed to stay near the caves. In fact, she had no intentions of leaving the cave today. Silver wandered the corridors looking for signs of the little skeleton man. She wandered farther back into the many anterooms than she normally did. This time, however, she felt something…off.

"Hello?" Silver's voice seemed to get absorbed by the shadows. She took a deep breath and stepped into one room that had a high ceiling and a small doorway. "Is there someone here?" Silver could feel someone like one might feel sunlight on their skin, only this wasn't a pleasant feeling. It was more like feeling winter in the fall air. "Talk to me." Silver said, hoping it was the skeleton man.

"I have waited a long time for you to say that, Silver." The voice cooed from behind her, sounding more than pleased. Silver whipped around and came face-to-face with the stone wall behind her. "Tsk, tsk. No peeking." The voice seemed more solid today and Silver could feel the body behind her. Fear prickled across her skin as her hair wavered around her head, as afraid as its master.

"How'd you get in here?" Silver asked.

"Take a look for yourself." The voice said. "I'll hide nothing from you." She looked around and saw the hole in the floor. It wasn't huge, but it was certainly deep. Silver felt dizzy just thinking about how deep it might go.

"You hide nothing but your face, your name, your purpose…" Silver listed cheekily. The voice chuckled and she heard his feet upon the floor. So the voice had a body after all.

"I told you my purpose. I want you." The voice said easily. Silver made to turn towards him again. "No peeking." He chided. Silver stopped.

"So you can hide your face, and your name, and say you conceal nothing." Silver sounded snippy, even to herself.

"My name?" The voice mused softly. "Is that what you really want?" He stood directly behind her and she froze, afraid that if she moved she'd break the spell and he'd be gone again and she'd know nothing at all. She felt something like fingers brush the backside of her hair.

"Yes." Silver whispered. She felt his breath, absurdly cool, on her neck as he leaned closer to murmur in her ear.

"My name is Death." A shiver raced down her spine like liquid ice.

"Death?" Silver asked. She felt the ghosts of his hands as he made to place them on her hips. She stepped out of his reach. "What do you want with me?" Silver asked, doing her best to not turn around and look at him.

"You were to be mine, but fate, or the moon rather, snatched you from my grasp." Death spoke bitterly.

"What? I never belonged to you…or anyone," Silver tried to defend herself.

"All souls are mine in the end," Death spoke candidly. "And yours was the most beautiful soul I had seen in many, many years. And with your tragedy, your soul was so much…sweeter." Death purred as if he were speaking of a wonderful sort of confection.

"You saw my death?" Silver asked, her hand coming up to cover her surprised mouth.

"I was waiting for your soul, but when you became a Legendary Figure…your soul changed and was untouchable to me. But I still want you, because your soul is what you are now. You are as beautiful and sweet as that little lamb I saw leaving your body. Come with me. Be mine." Death was almost pleading with her. It sounded so grand the way he said it, but Silver still shook her head. She could hear Death wishing for her to agree, but she couldn't.

"I'm sorry, but I belong with Pitch," She spoke softly, afraid that Death would be angry. Her worry was validated when Death growled. He was angry.

"Why?" Death spat. "Why do you belong with…with… the Boogeyman?" Death made a scoffing noise as he mentioned Pitch. "I have more to offer you. I have more power. I don't hide under beds!" Death spoke as if being the boogeyman was the lowest thing one could be. He sounded like a prince telling his princess she was in love with a beggar, and Silver knew it wasn't true. Pitch was the Nightmare King, she didn't need a prince.

"It's not about what he offers me. I care nothing for power," Silver said, trying to remain calm while her heart raced. Suddenly Death grasped Silver with his long, boney fingers and turned her to face him.

"What does he have that I don't? Why can't you be mine?" Death demanded shaking her. Silver's eyes were wide and startled by what was before her.

The voice had always sounded young, but the face seemed to be wrong. His cheekbones were sharp and high and seemed to flow down into his boyish chin. His eyes were large the color of old bones, dark brown over blinding white, an insane and beautiful color. His skin, however, was ashen and gray, the color of storm clouds and funeral precessions. He was dressed all in black except for his bone colored, silk, button up shirt, which he wore with the sleeves folded up to his elbows. He also wore a vest the color of the starless night sky, a silver chain hung daintily from one button hole to his pocket as if it held a fob watch. The pants Death wore were as black as his vest and as fancy as his button up shirt. The tie around his neck was the exact color of his skin.

"I don't know that I can explain it to you. I'm sorry. But threatening Pitch is not the way to make me like you, I can tell you that much," Silver broke from him and his tightly clenched hands. Death's arms fell to his sides in defeat and he sneered at her in distaste at his rejection.

"I don't get it," Death said waving a hand at her. "You're all light and beauty, Kosmotiz is dark and fear."

"You're not exactly a sunlamp," Silver cut in with vehemence. Death ignored her snip.

"How can you love someone that thrives on fear?" Death demanded with a snarl as he glared from across the room. He was beginning to pace like a caged lion, hands folded behind his back.

"How would that be any different from loving someone that thrives on death? Fear is harmless if you know how to handle it. Death is a one way street." Silver snapped back. Death straightened to his full height and seemed to tower over her, anger clear on his gray, boyish face. Silver shrank back before she could stop herself. There was something terrible in the young, ashen face, and Silver was afraid of it.

"Silver?" Pitch's voice echoed down the many corridors.

"That creature…" Death sneered, looking behind him at the door. Pitch was still a ways away from the anteroom.

"We're all creatures here," Silver retorted angrily.

"I'm afraid it's time for me to leave." Death gave Silver a deep bow and as he did so a black top hat appeared in his hand. When he straightened, he set it dramatically atop his head.

"What? You don't want to talk to Pitch?" Silver snorted. Death scowled at her.

"Until another time," Death tipped his hat to her and jumped down the hole, disappearing from sight. Silver ran over and peered into the hole, wondering where it led.

"Silver!" Pitch was close now.

"Pitch!" Silver ran out to meet him. He looked perplexed as to why she was so deep in the caves. "I know who the voice is!" She was breathing hard, from excitement, anxiety and fear.

"Well?" Pitch took her shoulders in his hands.

"It's Death." Silver said alarmed. It was Pitch's turn to have eyes as wide as the moon.

"Death?" Pitch was thunderstruck. "What do you mean 'Death'?" Pitch demanded.

"Death. Like the taker of souls. Death!" Silver said, pushing his arms away from her and heading back into the anteroom. "When he heard you coming he jumped down the hole…" Silver frowned, arm still outstretched to show Pitch the hole. Only there was no longer a hole in the floor.

"What hole?" Pitch asked.

"There was a hole!" Silver said exasperated. "And Death! I saw him!" Pitch frowned at her.

"What did he look like?" Pitch asked reaching for Silver again. She was bouncing around in her worry and excitement. Pitch had trouble keeping up with her when she was so worked up.

"He was gray, like you, but sort of darker, more like something charred..." Silver described, her brow wrinkled. "He was dressed well, and he looked young." Silver said with a wave of her hand. She was searching the floor for the hole or at least signs of it.

"Did he say what he wants with you?" Pitch asked, honestly and thoroughly confused for the first time in a very long while. Silver stopped suddenly, her dress tried to keep going, but being unable, it slid back against her legs as she stared at the wall.

"He wants me because he was denied my soul," Silver spoke absently, as if it had only just dawned on her what it meant. She turned on her heel to face Pitch. "What does he want with my soul?" Pitch could feel the only fear he hated as it sat deep within Silver's heart.

"Souls have many purposes." Pitch told her. "I do not know what he wants with yours." Silver turned away from him and glared angrily at the shadows.

"I think he wants me to love him. I could feel him wishing for me to love him like I love you," Silver snorted. Pitch felt his heart, which he had ignored so well for so long, jump in his chest.

"Could you love him?" Pitch asked, unsure of what answer he sought, especially because Silver didn't seem to notice what it was that she just said.

"I could love anyone that deserves it. But Death doesn't seem to grasp that what he's doing is a personal attack and therefore does not make me want to like him at all. If he wants love, he needs to earn it." Silver crossed her arms across her chest.

"Anyone that deserves it…" Pitch wondered out loud. Does that mean that he, the Nightmare King, who had caused so much fear, who had hurt and angered so many purely for his own purposes, deserved love?

"Yes. Anyone." Silver seemed to know what he was thinking. "But especially you." One half of her face pulled up into a grin. Maybe she knew exactly what she had said.

Silver darted across the room and stood before him. Pitch was watching her with a slightly confused look. "I love you Pitch. I really do." Silver said softly. Pitch watched her in wonder and oh so gently touched her cheek.

"Who could love the boogeyman?" Pitch asked bitterly. Silver covered his hand with hers and frowned sadly up at him.

"Pitch, weren't you listening?" Silver demanded. " _I_ love you."

"I want to know what Death wants with you and your soul." Pitch said, ignoring her. Silver frowned and allowed him to pull her out of the room.

"Maybe he wants to eat it," Silver said, not caring that it was ridiculous. She was sad that Pitch didn't say that he loved her back. It didn't change how she felt about him, but it would have been nice to hear it said.

"You don't _eat_ souls," Pitch scoffed.

"Why not? Don't they taste good?" Silver laced her fingers through Pitch's long, cool hands. Pitch made a grumbling noise at her but didn't take his hand away.

"I don't know, I've never tried one," He said flippantly, ignoring that he enjoyed her hand in his.

"What else could someone do with a soul?" Silver asked.

"There are ways to take power from a soul. I never had much luck with it myself," Pitch said with a slight grin. Silver couldn't tell if he was serious or not.

"Does he want to kill me then?" Silver asked softly.

"He can't kill you that easily. You're a Legendary Figure." Pitch assured her.

"But he's Death…isn't it in his realm of power to kill things?" Silver squeezed his hand. Pitch looked down at her through the dark. Silver's hair was wavy and was hanging at odd angles while she bounced between fear and her normal, happy, loving self. Again Pitch was surprised by the strength of the urge he felt to protect her.

"If he wanted to kill you, and was able," Pitch said after a moment. "He would have already, don't you think?" Silver just nodded and moved so that Pitch's arm was around her as they walked through the many halls of the Caves. He walked her back to the main cavern, wondering just what he was going to do to protect her. Maybe he would have to ask for help. Pitch knew of only one other Legendary Figure that might help him if he asked, but only if it was for Silver's sake. The winter sprite himself.

Jack Frost.


	11. Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten: Fading

"You're not as easy to find as you used to be." Pitch said, dissolving from the shadows that filled the alley where Jack had been spreading frost. Jack whipped around, staff pointed defensively at Pitch's chest.

"What do you want?" Jack demanded, looking around to see if Silver was with him.

"As much as I hate to ask, I need your help." Pitch said. "Silver's in danger." Pitch tried to sound humble enough for Jack to know that he was serious.

"So that voice is going to make a move then?" Jack asked, still on the defense when Pitch took a few easy steps towards the mouth of the alley. Pitch frowned at him.

"Yes. I believe he is. He came and spoke to Silver earlier." Pitch held his hands behind his back, attempting to look as formidable as he used to. There were many things he had done in his long life, asking for help, especially from one sworn to protect the world from him, was not a thing he thought he'd ever do. But Silver was more important than his vanity.

"What do you want me to do about it?" Jack asked lowering his staff. Pitch debated telling the sprite "never mind" and leaving right then, but he swallowed his pride for the moment.

"I want you to help me protect Silver. I know she's your…friend." Pitch had never been one for any sort of pleading, and now here he was.

"Why ask me?" Jack asked, knowing that Pitch wouldn't be here unless it was dire.

"Because you understand…" Pitch stopped and snarled at himself. "I know you care for Silver. I just hope you'll help me protect her." Pitch hated that he wasn't strong enough to protect her himself. Hated that he had been reduced to the shadow of his former glory. Hated that everything that mattered to him was in the hands of the mischievous and spirited Jack Frost.

"Ok." Jack said. Pitch perked up, surprised that Jack had agreed.

"Ok?" He asked.

"I'll help you protect Silver." Jack replied. "But only for Silver's sake," Pitch smiled then and Jack frowned at him. Pitch always looked like he was up to something when he smiled, but Jack believed that Pitch really wanted to protect Silver. So he followed Pitch home while Pitch told Jack all that he knew of Death.

Meanwhile:

Silver sat in the main cavern of the Cave, playing with little orbs of moonlight she found she could control. Pitch had told her to stay in the main room until he returned from wherever it was he was going. She had agreed, if only to make him worry about her a little less.

Chattering was audible from across the cavern and Silver perked up. She stood and adjusted herself as she peered into the dark. Silver could just make out the whiteness of the little skeleton man from where she stood near Pitch's great globe. She smiled and shot across the room.

"Hello?" Silver called into the dark. "I know you're here." She said happily as she looked around the shadows for signs of the little guy. She heard his chattering again and she followed it down a hallway, ignoring the fact she was leaving the main cavern.

"Ssss!" She heard the little skeleton hissing. "Ya!" Silver knew he was trying to say something, so she darted forward, trying to hear him better. (This way!)

"Wait up!" She called after him as he ran ahead of her again.

The skeleton chattered at Silver from the other end of the hallway as if to challenge her. Silver narrowed her eyes at him and chased after him again, a laugh escaping her lips as she ran. The skeleton man waited for her when she lagged behind, but she followed him wherever he went. Silver found herself in the depths of the caverns before she realized how far she had actually chased the skeleton.

"Where are you taking me?" Silver asked cheerfully when the skeleton stood in the doorway of an anteroom. Silver giggled again, not noticing which anteroom she had entered. "You're a funny little guy, aren't you?" She just kept smiling until she realized she couldn't stop following the little skeleton. Even when he chattered at her from the edge of the very hole she had watched Death disappear down earlier that day. Fear spiked in her heart.

"Stop!" Silver said, her legs continuing towards the hole despite her every effort to stop. "Skeleton man! Let me go!" The skeleton paused at the edge of the hole with a mournful look and frowning eye sockets. He chattered at her sadly then jumped down the hole. Silver could do nothing but follow him down into that deep darkness. Fear raced into her veins as the shadows closed around her and she followed the whiteness of skeleton without having to really see him.

"Silver!" Pitch called into the dark when he and Jack made it back to the Cave. There was no answer and Pitch couldn't feel her anywhere in the cave. "SILVER!" Pitch bellowed. Jack frowned.

"Isn't she here?" Jack asked. Pitch growled.

"No." Pitch could feel Silver's fear then. It lingered somewhere in the depths of the caves and Pitch thought he knew which room it came from. He moved quickly and deliberately towards the other rooms.

"Where are we going?" Jack asked. Pitch stopped and turned to Jack with an angry snarl.

"He took her. I can feel her fear. He took her and I want her back," Pitch sounded dangerous and Jack was glad it wasn't at him. While Jack knew he could probably take Pitch on if he had too, it was best that Pitch's rage was directed elsewhere.

"Death took her?" Jack asked. Pitch didn't even respond as he hurried to the anteroom where he'd found Silver this morning. Silver's fear was sharper here.

"You do not have to come," Pitch said peering into the deep hole that Silver had told him Death had disappeared into. Silver had been afraid when she went down this hole, and Pitch needed to find her before Death did something terrible to her.

"You asked for help. I'll help." Jack said. Pitch turned to Jack with something like gratitude on his face. "For Silver." Jack added hastily. Pitch grinned slightly despite himself.

"Silver is lucky to have your loyalty," Pitch said before he jumped down the hole, straight into the dark. Jack shook his head and jumped in after him.

Elsewhere:

"Silver, my dear, beautiful Silver!" Death preened when the skeleton man stopped before him with Silver still under control. Silver could only glance around at the cavern she was in. It was well lit with torches of blue fire along the walls that were lined, floor to impossibly high ceiling, with shelves filled with jar after jar after jar. Each jar had something in it, but from the flickering of the firelight and the distance she was away from the walls, it was hard to tell just what each jar contained.

"I do not belong to you," Silver said shortly.

"Of course, of course," Death said. He sat upon a grand chair, a throne of sorts, on a raised platform in the middle of the room before Silver. It was three steps up that she hadn't intended to make, but her legs were still not her own. She stopped close enough to Death that the hem of her dress brushed against his night-black pants.

"Why can't I control myself?" Silver demanded, frowning.

"It's a simple spell, you'll be fine once you are released from it," Death said dismissively. He was looking at Silver with both wonder and a sort of hungry. Death took her hands in his and Silver shivered. His hands were colder than she thought possible. Cold in ways ice couldn't dream if.

"Then release me from it," Silver said, attempting civility, which was hard when she was angry.

"But first…" Death pulled her forward suddenly and she collapsed onto his lap. "You have something that I want." Silver met his insanely colored eyes and saw only ambition. He knew what he wanted.

Death grabbed Silver's hair in one hand and brought her face to his in what looked innocently like a kiss. However, when Death's lips touched Silver's she felt ice spread into her mouth, down her throat, into her blood and as Death drew back from her, she felt as though he was drawing out something precious from inside her and she fought it.

But it wasn't enough.

Death held in his hand a brilliant silvery-blue light that cast wicked shadows upon his sharp cheekbones. Silver watched him cradle the light in his hands as it transformed into a lamb that sat daintily upon his hand. Death laughed, pure joy at his find. Silver lay across his lap, hollow and dazed, unsure if she felt anything anymore. All she knew was that she needed that lamb back. It took all of her remaining strength, but she managed to reach out.

Death didn't notice until it was too late. Silver's hand brushed against the lamb, which changed back to the blue-silver light and darted back into her.

"NO!" Death bellowed. The light warmed the ice that Death had placed in her, but she continued to feel weak. "Take her away!" Death bellowed again and a whole herd of skeleton men came up and pulled Silver, still impossibly dazed, from Death and his throne. She could not move and her eyes were quickly closing.

Silver was carried from the room by the mob of skeleton men, who all chattered as they took her away. They laid her gently on the stone floor of another room and left her there. One skeleton man stood at the doorway as his counterparts departed. He chattered at her sadly and followed the others. Silver's eyes closed, but sleep evaded her. All she felt was a dull fear of what may happen next.

Something whinnied from the back of the room and Silver managed to turn her face towards the noise. She saw nothing, but the whinnying came again. Silver tried to make light, but it didn't work. She was drained from her exchange with Death and she needed sleep. Silver tried to sit up, but her arms wouldn't hold her. The whinnying came yet again and Silver just lay against the cold stone, wishing she knew what it was in the back of the room. Her eyes closed as she wished, and an image came to her mind of the little white nightmare running around her hand at the Pole. The whinnying echoed in the room and was accompanied by hooves stomping on metal. Silver lay there for another moment, then did her best to drag herself towards the white nightmare she knew would be waiting for her.

Inch by inch, Silver managed to move towards the back of the room.


	12. Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven: Fighting

"What if she's not down here?" Jack asked after he and Pitch had been wandering around in the dark for some time.

"She's down here. I can still feel her fear." Pitch snorted. They heard some chattering from further down the tunnel.

"What's that?" Jack asked. Pitch rolled his eyes. Maybe he shouldn't have asked for Jack's help after all.

"I don't know," Pitch said impatiently. Then a group of skeletons appeared down the tunnel. "Those must be what Silver was talking about." Pitch mused, wondering absently if they were going to attack them or not.

"Think they're dangerous?" Jack asked.

"You ask too many questions," Pitch snorted at him. "I think I preferred you before you were a guardian. You were easier to ignore," The skeletons were moving towards them, all chattering and flailing about as if they had trouble walking in the dark.

"Well I think you're better off with Silver around," Jack said in the same tone. Pitch glared at him through the dark.

"What do you know, boy?" Pitch snapped. Jack shrugged then returned his attention to the skeletons that were rather close now. "Where's Silver?" Pitch demanded of the skeletons. The all said something at the same moment and it came out as white noise amidst their chattering. Then the skeletons attacked.

The fighting was loud in the tunnels. The skeletons would scream whenever hit with either Pitch's nightmare sand or Jack's ice. The skeletons just kept coming though, and Pitch and Jack had their hands full for quite some time.

Silver had made it about a foot when she heard chattering from behind her. Silver sighed. Now what? She thought. A herd of little skeleton men came into the room and lifted her from the ground.

"Hey…" Silver said weakly. She still felt as though she hadn't slept in weeks, but some little bit of her strength had come back. "Put," And just like that her energy was gone again. The skeletons carried her gently and Silver watched the ceiling get tall as they took her into the room that held Death and his throne.

"Silver!" Death cooed. The skeleton men set her on a chair that hadn't been there when she first was brought before Death. Silver just watched him as he grinned down at her from his throne while she tried to hold her head up properly. "I have a story to tell you."

"Let…" Silver tried to talk but it was impossibly difficult. "Me." She took a deep breath. "Go."

"I can't. You still have something that's mine. I know I can get your soul from you now, I just need you to let it go." Death smiled at her, his teeth too white against his ash-gray skin. Fresh bone in a dead face.

"Never," Silver managed.

"Wouldn't you rather stay here in the dark with me?" Death purred. Silver did her best to glare at him across the room. Death laughed. "I have something to show you, dear little Silver," Death jumped up from his throne and went to the wall and searched for something. He pulled down a jar with a dark sort of grin on his face. "Here it is!" Death came over to Silver and showed her the jar. "This soul is very special. She was a story teller of sorts, but not only that, she was from a time of wonder called the Golden Age." Silver's eyes must have widened because Death laughed again. "I see you've heard of it."

Silver tried to move away from Death, but he put his arm around her, holding her close to him. Silver's skin crawled. Death just smiled at her. Silver was watching Death, but she couldn't help looking at the jar. Inside was a little metal tinker-toy that looked like a butterfly painted with words. The metal was gold, but the words were stark in black. The butterfly toy began to flutter as Death moved the jar around.

"This little soul here, it can still tell stories. Just like watching a movie," Death opened the jar and the butterfly toy fluttered out onto his hand. Death smiled at it and Silver felt fear creeping into her mind again. Something bad was going to happen and she was powerless to stop it.

"Why," Silver spoke again. She wished she could get her energy back, but she had no power to grant any sort of wish anymore. She had used her last wish for her nightmare. "Am." She had to force the words out. "I weak?"

"That's a side effect of soul removing. Normally it kills people, but because you're a Legendary Figure…" Death shrugged. "You don't die." The butterfly fluttered on his hand and his attention strayed back to it. "Now. The story I want to tell you is an old one." The butterfly fluttered from Death's hand and drifted through the air, hovering like a ghost before Silver's wide, tired eyes.

"Why?" Silver managed, eyes wide.

"Because there are things you need to know." Death said, something like pity in his voice. The butterfly toy landed on Silver's nose. Her eyes crossed as she tried to watch the creature. The butterfly's feet dug painfully into her skin and its wings covered her eyes. Silver's eyes suddenly uncrossed as the wings showed her images from a time long past. A time of great magic and joy that was as beautiful as anything she had ever dreamed. Silver wondered what could have ended such a time. Then the images showed her something dark that prowled the shadows and skies, which laughed with a voice she knew well.

Jack and Pitch managed to fight off the skeletons. The last few that were neither broken nor frozen, chattered and ran off, sometimes making odd calls to each other as if they were trying to regroup. Jack chased after them shooting ice at them as they scuttled off. Jack bound back to Pitch with a comical grin plastered on his face.

"Let's go find Silver, she must be down here if they were trying to fight us off." Jack said. Pitch could only nod, he could feel Silver's fear spiking as something made her worry about him. Somehow she knew something about the past that worried her. While Pitch had never made play that he was a good guy, he didn't flaunt his past to her. Pitch knew she wouldn't approve of some of the things he had done.

"Well, well, well," Death's voice came through the dark. "To what do I owe the honor Mr. Nightmare King? And Jackson Overland Frost! I remember you saved your sister from me. I wasn't pleased with you for that," Pitch growled and flung sand at the voice in the shadows.

"What are you talking about?" Jack demanded, taken aback.

"Ignore him," Pitch said, still glaring at the shadows that concealed his foe. "Death! Come out and face me!" Jack took a step back when Death dissolved from the shadows.

"Are you looking for a fight?" Death mused, leaning casually against the wall of the tunnel, swinging something on a silver chain that attached to his vest. Pitch just glared at him, nose wrinkled and every muscle at attention, ready to strike. "Silver, by the way, tastes wonderful. It's a wonder you didn't devour her whole," Death laughed. Pitch roared as he jumped at Death, attacking with everything he had. Death swung the chain up and a great silver and shadow scythe appeared to defend him.

The tunnel was once again filled with the sounds of battle.

When the 'movie' of the Golden Age faded from Silver's vision, Death came back into view. He looked a little ragged, as if his attention was divided.

"What do you think Silver?" Death tried to purr. His voice came out forced and clipped. Silver wondered absently what had happened while she was watching.

"Pitch…" Silver managed. She still felt paralyzed with weariness. She worried that it would never go away.

"Yes, your dear Pitch wasn't always so…" Death sighed as he grappled for the word. "Tame." Silver watched him with disdain. She knew Death was trying to poison her against Pitch because he wished for her to want him instead of Pitch. But that was one wish that she simply couldn't grant, even if she'd had the strength to.

Death grimaced and motioned for the skeletons to come forward again. Silver looked to them as they chattered and wondered how much longer she would be here like this. She wished she was back home with Pitch in the dark. She wished and wished and wished.

But she was too weak now to make anything happen.

"You think this is all I am?" Death grimaced as he held his ribs, where Pitch had managed to hit him several times.

"I think you're a coward," Pitch growled. Jack stood behind Pitch, staff aimed at Death, waiting for something to happen.

"Do you now?" Death grinned and his teeth, normally the color of bleached bones, were stained with a darkness that must have been the fluid from his veins.

"Tell me what you've done to my Silver," Pitch demanded. Death just nodded and leaned heavily against one wall.

"I don't think your temper could handle it, Kozmotis." Death sneered. "Though I have to give you credit, you have some serious self-control…" Death coughed once. "I seem to have trouble keeping my hands off her." Death chuckled darkly then coughed again. Pitch growled and sent sand at the man against the wall. It bounced harmlessly against the stone, for the apparition of Death was gone. Not even the echo of his laugh remained.

Silver was in the room with her white nightmare again. As the skeletons made to leave, one, who was just a tad bigger than the others near him, looked back at her where she was sitting on the floor. He chattered at two of the other skeletons and those two looked at him and nodded. The group stepped forward and Silver could only watch them approach.

"Eeee." The biggest one said.

"Waaaaa." The one to his left said. The big guy glared at him and hit him with the back of his boney little hand. Silver sat up straighter as best she could. The big skeleton nodded then and this time all three spoke.

"W-e" The first two said in turn. "Sow-ry." The first and third spoke. Silver was surprised. She hadn't realized they could actually speak coherently.

"Help…" Silver said. The big one stepped forward and the two littler ones looked at each other before stepping forward as well. Silver looked at her nightmare and they seemed to understand that she wanted to be nearer to him. It took some maneuvering, but the three managed to drag and pull Silver over to the cage. Her nightmare nickered at her and stuck its nose against the bars, trying to get nearer its master. Silver wondered why it couldn't get through the bars.

"W-e sow-ry." They spoke again, but in a different order. Silver frowned at them.

"Why?" She whispered.

"W-e hur-t y-ou." The skeletons all chattered and the two smaller ones made to run away. The big one grabbed them both and pulled them back. "W-e d-id n-ot wa-n-t t-oo." They spoke again. Silver tried to look at them with sympathy. She knew they were only following orders and that they had no power to do otherwise.

"It's ok," Silver managed to spread her arms out to them as she leaned up against the cage of her nightmare, offering them forgiveness. The skeletons hesitated for a moment before chattering and coming across the room towards her. The two little ones chattered loudly when they were almost within reach and scampered off, but the big one, who Silver thought must have been the skeleton from the caves, stood before her. Silver smiled at him softly and he stepped into her hug. "I forgive you," Silver closed her eyes with her arms around the little odd skeleton. "You and your friends." She told him. He chattered again and jumped away from her. His face looked sad still, but there was something happier about the way he held himself.

"NeeK." He said. "Oooo." He shook his head because he knew she wouldn't understand. Silver looked after him as he scampered out. She thought maybe he was trying to say 'thank you'.

Pitch and Jack made their way deeper into the tunnels. Pitch was getting impatient because he knew Death was up to something that he didn't want interrupted. That's why he had sent his doppelgänger to fight Pitch and Jack rather than fight them himself.

Suddenly a light appeared at the end of the tunnel. Pitch and Jack found themselves in a large room with floor to ceiling shelves of jars.

"What do you think these are?" Jack asked hovering to peer into some of the shelves, poking at a jar here and there. "They all have different things in them." He climbed up to the higher shelves to investigate more.

"Those are souls. I'd be careful, they are fragile!" Death's voice shot from the center of the room. Both of the intruders turned to him. Death looked tired as he sat upon his throne. "You certainly are determined, Kozmotis." His lips curled unpleasantly at the name.

"I don't like when people take things that are mine," Pitch growled back, beyond annoyed with Death for all the hassle he had caused for Pitch and Silver alike.

"So what's with him then?" Death nodded towards Jack who had landed on the ground next to Pitch, staff at the ready. Pitch cast a sideways glance at him. "You don't normally have any help."

"I don't like people messing with my friends," Jack said for himself. Pitch motioned to the sprite.

"There, you see?" Pitch smiled darkly. "Now tell me where Silver is."

"She's mine now, you can't have her back!" Death bellowed childishly. "Silver, and her soul, belong to me!" Death stood up to his full height, filling the cave with his body and anger. Pitch took a step back as Death cackled at his foes. "Still want to fight me, little man?" Pitch drew an arrow across his bow and let it fly towards Death's now towering form.

Apparently the answer was yes.

Silver was glad to be leaning against the cage of her nightmare. He gave her a sort of comfort because this way, she wasn't alone. Silver's eyes were closed when the nightmare made a huffing noise as someone approached.

"Silver, how are you feeling?" Death asked limping into the room, all the way back to where Silver leaned against the cage.

"Leave me," Silver groaned. She had gained back enough energy to be angry with Death for what he'd done to her.

Death kneeled down by her and groaned himself. Silver raised an eyebrow at him. He looked awful, as if he'd been through the gauntlet and back. He followed her gaze and laughed humorlessly.

"Like what your Kozmotis did to me?" Death sneered the name. Silver's eyes widened with hope. "Oh, don't look like that. He's dead." Death said simply, as if there could have been no other outcome. He sat down next to her with a heavy sigh. "He put up a good fight, he must've really loved you, Silver." Death closed his eyes as pain radiated through his ribs. Silver was dumbstruck with disbelief.

"No." She said. "He can't…" She would have known, wouldn't she?

"He can't what? Be dead? Sure he can!" Death snapped. He reached into the pocket of his vest and pulled out a jar that by no means should have fit in his pocket. It was the size of a mason jar and inside was a little black figure, hunched over against one side of the glass. "See?" Death thrust the jar at her as if it were a dirty and vile thing. She managed to bring it to eye level and saw the little shadow man. Could this really be Pitch's soul?

"But…" Silver tried to object. Death took the jar from her, it vanished into his pocket once more.

"No 'but's, my dear. He's dead and gone. There's nothing you can do to bring him back. After all, 'death is a one way street'." Death sneered her own words back at her.

"He promised…" Silver said. Pitch had promised Death wouldn't hurt him. Silver felt tears come weakly to her eyes. She was so tired, and now she would never see her Pitch again. Something fragile inside her broke into tiny little pieces and Death smiled.

"That's my girl," Death said grasping her chin in his impossibly cold fingers. "Let your spirit break for him. Let your heart give up." Silver barely heard him over the sadness rushing through her. Pitch was dead. He was gone. She was all alone in the dark with no nightmares to comfort her.

Death leaned closer, brought his mouth to hers, and coldness seeped into her chest as he drew the soul he so coveted from its owner. The lamb sat idly in his hand until he produced a jar from his pocket and thrust it inside. The lamb became a brilliant, sharp-edged, silver-blue light that darted around the jar like a frightened butterfly, desperate to get out. Silver knew she should fight for it, fight the feeling that nothing mattered anymore, that she was alone, but she couldn't. There was far too much ice in her chest.

Silver slumped against the cage again, her white nightmare made a low noise in his throat as she closed her eyes. But try as she might, she could not sleep. Instead she remembered the one she had lost.

Her tears fell softly to the stone floor for Death had taken from her not only her soul, but also her heart.


	13. Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve: Dying

"Where'd he go?" Jack asked after the dust settled from their last attack. Pitch was breathing hard, he hadn't expelled so much energy in a long time.

"He's still here somewhere. He wouldn't run away." Pitch looked around, but found nothing. "Let's go find Silver." Pitch strode off without waiting for Jack. Silver's fear was no longer strong and that worried Pitch. What could Death have done to her?

The pair wandered through the corridors until Pitch suddenly stopped. He motioned for Jack to be quiet. They could hear something shuffling around. Thinking it was more skeletons, as they had run across a few that all ran away from them, Pitch and Jack both stood at the ready as they moved around another corner and into a room.

"Silver!" Jack shouted. Pitch moved across the room in the blink of an eye and crouched down before her, but something was very wrong.

Silver's eyes were closed, but as Pitch studied her they opened slowly and blinked at him. Her glow was gone and her eyes were dull and vacant.

"Silver?" Pitch asked softly. "What happened to you?" She just stared at him without recognition and blinked once.

"Is she ok?" Jack asked. Pitch shushed him, reaching out to touch Silver's cheek. He was surprised to feel how cold her skin was, and that she didn't react to his touch.

"What did he do to you?" Pitch demanded softly. Her empty eyes looked at him without seeing him.

"He…" The word was impossibly quiet as it fell from her ice-cold lips. Pitch leaned in closer.

"Tell me," He urged.

"He…" The sound was a little stronger. "He took it." She managed. She blinked slowly, as if she wasn't sure she wanted to open her eyes ever again.

"Took what?" Jack asked over Pitch's shoulder. Pitch frowned at her.

"Silver, look at me," Pitch said moving her chin with his fingers. Her normally bright eyes were empty and leaden as they faced him, like a night sky with no moon. "What did he do to you, exactly?" She moved her head away from him and he let her go, standing angrily.

"What could Death have taken from her to leave her like that?" Jack asked. It was terrifying to see someone who was normally all bubbly and happy, sitting on the floor looking next to dead.

"Her soul," Pitch looked back at Silver, who was leaning against the cage again, eyes blankly staring ahead of her, blinking slowly. "Jack I want you to stay here with her."

"What are you going to do?" Jack asked.

"I'm going to find Death," Pitch left before Jack could ask anything else.

"I…" Silver mumbled. Jack went over to her and sat on the ground next to her. "I'm tired." She closed her eyes.

"Go ahead and sleep." Jack assured her.

"My," Silver looked into the cage instead. "Poor nightmare." She sighed, forehead pressed to the bars. Jack looked at the nightmare in the cage for the first time and marveled at it. He'd seen plenty of nightmares in his time, but never before a white one. Silver's eyes were closed again as Jack stood and walked around the cage to find the door.

The nightmare watched him warily as Jack froze the lock and broke it open. Jack stood aside and motioned to the creature to leave the cage. The nightmare looked from Silver, still leaning against the cage, back to the sprite, leaning against his staff. Ultimately the nightmare decided leaving the cage was more important than avoiding Jack, so it bolted out.

The nightmare stomped the ground in front of Silver, as if to get her attention, but Silver's eyes stayed closed. The nightmare stepped forward gingerly and snorted at Silver. Her hair moved from the sudden airflow but the rest of her didn't. Her hair seemed frozen, not reflecting any emotion, which concerned Jack.

The nightmare moved around Silver, squeezing its head between her and the cage. Silver moaned as she was moved, but eventually her face calmed and she appeared to finally fall asleep.

"Go ahead and sleep, Silver. I'll watch out for you." Jack said softly. Silver mumbled something incoherent and settled into the side of her nightmare. Jack stood stoically before her, protecting her from whatever might come through the door.

Pitch prowled the halls and came up with nothing for some time. When he finally located the object of his ire, Pitch was more than angry.

"Kozmotis, come back to finish me off?" Death asked, attempting his usual casual air. He sounded funny with a fat lip. Not only did he have that fat lip, but he had an obvious bruise over his right eye and looked as though it pained him to breathe.

"Yes," Pitch said simply.

"Good luck with that," Death said leaning back in his throne with a heavy sigh. Pitch wondered why Death didn't seem to be preparing for a fight. He just sat there, glaring at Pitch from his throne.

"Where is Silver's soul?" Pitch asked. Death nodded, a slight, bitter smile creasing his face.

"Amongst the others," Death motioned to the many jars upon the walls. "Finally, where it belongs." Death sighed dreamily. Pitch moved across the room and grasped Death by the front of his shirt.

"I'm done with your games. Tell me where it is!" Pitch shook Death.

"I've got nothing to lose. Do your worst," Death challenged. Pitch dropped him back into his chair where Death sat grimacing.

"Fine. But if Silver dies because of what you did, I _will_ find a way to kill you." Pitch shot over his shoulder, heading back to where Silver and Jack waited. Pitch just hoped Silver knew where Death had put her soul and that it wasn't too late for her.

"Silver?" Pitch asked reentering the room. She was curled up against a white nightmare, her chest rose and fell with the steady rhythms of sleep.

"She's out cold, has been since you left." Jack said looking down at Silver's sleeping form. Pitch moved across the room to her.

"She told me about this nightmare," Pitch said. The nightmare perked up and snorted at Pitch as the Nightmare King reached out to him.

"I didn't know they came in white," Jack said with a grin despite the direness of their situation.

"They don't. But this is Silver's nightmare," Pitch touched the creature's nose and inhaled sharply. "That is…" Pitch smiled at Silver's sleeping form. "A neat trick."

"What?" Jack asked.

"This nightmare just told me that Silver was having fun at the Pole. That she was ok and that she missed me. Apparently, Silver had tried to send me a message and Death intercepted it," Pitch touched Silver's hair, she was still really cold.

"Why would he do that?" Jack asked.

"Why do you ask so many questions?" Pitch snorted. "He probably thought it was one of mine. Or maybe he knew it was Silver's." Pitch shrugged. Either way it didn't matter now. All Pitch wanted was for Silver to be alright again.

"Death _has_ been stalking her…" Jack said. The nightmare laid its head down next to Silver and breathed out through its nose again.

Silver sighed in her sleep and her eyelids fluttered. Pitch didn't move, wanting to be the first thing she saw when she opened her eyes. Silver ran a hand over her eyes and they opened to see the Nightmare King watching her.

"Good morning Silver." Pitch said softly. Silver's eyes were wide, intelligent and brighter than before, but still tired. Her color was still dim, but no longer bleak.

"Am I dead?" Silver whispered, unsure of her voice. Pitch frowned at her.

"No. Why would you ask such a thing?" Pitch asked.

"Because…" Silver's eyes filled with tears. "You're dead," She covered her face with her hands. Pitch scoffed.

"I am nothing of the sort!" He pulled her hands from her face and wiped away her tears with his thumbs. "I'm not dead." He assured her. Silver wasn't sure if she could trust her senses. He looked real, he felt real. But Death had shone her Pitch's soul. To take her own…

"Death tricked me then," Silver frowned, feeling foolish. "He has my soul." Then it dawned on her that Pitch was really alive. Really there holding her hands away from her face. "Pitch!" Silver suddenly tackled Pitch in a hug. Her arms wound tightly around his neck as she cried.

"It's ok Silver," Pitch said, holding onto her as tightly as she held onto him.

"Don't you ever go away again," Silver told him, squeezing him even more tightly. "Don't you dare ever leave me."

"I'm not going anywhere," Pitch said into her hair as Silver cried into the front of his robes. "I'm here." He assured her. "I'm here…"


	14. Chapter Thirteen

**Chapter Thirteen: Forgiving**

Jack cleared his throat awkwardly when Silver and Pitch didn't move for some time. Pitch pulled Silver from his neck, but was unable to remove her from his person. She held onto his arm, refusing to let him completely go.

"Jack," Silver smiled at him. "Thank you for helping too." She swayed on her feet and Pitch steadied her.

"No problem." Jack smiled at her and she leaned against Pitch almost shyly.

"My legs don't want to work," Silver said. "I guess losing your soul take a lot out of you," The white nightmare came over and nuzzled himself under her free arm. Silver smiled at him.

"Do you know where Death put your soul?" Pitch asked suddenly. Silver blinked, trying to remember.

"No. But I remember what it looks like," Silver leaned heavily against the nightmare. "I'm really tired." Silver frowned. Pitch squeezed her hand.

"Maybe you should ride your nightmare," Pitch suggested. The nightmare whinnied at her and dissolved so that it fit beneath her. Silver waved her arms to catch her balance, never letting go of Pitch's hand. Pitch looked at her hand oddly and carefully untwined their fingers. Silver tried to catch his hand again, but he evaded her. Silver frowned at him.

"Give that back," Silver demanded with a yawn.

"No." Pitch put his hands behind his back. Silver glared.

"Jack! He's being mean to me!" Silver complained. Jack shrugged.

"I'm staying out of this one. I saw what he did to Death and don't ever want to get between him and you." Jack smiled at her, still unsure of how he felt about the two of them being together. It was like Pitch wasn't such a bad guy after all.

"I'm not going anywhere. Now let's go get your soul back and go home," Pitch said. The white nightmare made a noise and stomped his feet.

"Ok, then I can sleep," Silver yawned again and she looked over at Jack. She just sort of smiled at him as the nightmare followed Pitch out, Silver riding carefully on his back.

When the troop got near the large main room, Silver was almost asleep again, head bobbing in time to the nightmare's steps. Pitch went into the room first and the nightmare followed him with a snort.

"Silver, I'm surprised to see you up and about," Death coughed into a black handkerchief, glaring at them from his throne.

"Where's her soul?" Pitch demanded. Death pulled his face into a pained smile.

"Not telling," Death laughed once, then grimaced. Every movement seemed to hurt him.

"What did your soul look like?" Jack whispered to Silver. She looked at him, but was distracted by Death who was so obviously in pain. And his pain was her fault. Should she feel bad about that?

"A silver light. Like when I'm a shooting star. But sort of blue too," She told him. Jack nodded, and, not being an immediate threat to Death, went over to the shelves relatively unnoticed. Death's eyes strayed to him once, but returned to Pitch quickly.

"Pitch," Silver reached out to touch his shoulder. He turned his angry eyes to her. "Help me down." She smiled at him softly. Pitch frowned at her, but did as she asked. Silver kept a hand on her white nightmare for balance and walked over to Death, who was lounging on his throne as if he'd been dropped there. Death tried to cast a flippant smile at her, but there was fear in his eyes. Somehow he knew what she was going to do, even if she didn't.

"Death," Silver said softly. "Can I see that jar from your pocket again?" She stood before him, her face as gentle as moonlight despite whatever anger she may have harbored towards him.

"Which jar?" Death asked as if he didn't know. The way his eyes widened begot his knowledge. He didn't want her to have it for some reason.

"The one with the shadow-man inside, the one you told me belonged to Pitch." Silver pressed gently, holding her hand out. Death looked at her outstretched hand, then past her to Pitch, and back up to her soft face. Death knew she should be mad at him, that she should be angry. She'd been angry the entire time she'd been here, and yet here she was, as gentle as dying in one's sleep. Pitch could feel Death's fear growing the longer the silence grew. Pitch smirked at the thought of Silver making the creature feel afraid.

Death sighed and reached gingerly into his pocket, pulling the jar in question from its unfathomable depths. Silver smiled at him when he set the jar on her hand.

"Thank you," Silver continued to speak softly. Death seemed to shrink in his chair as she looked at the jar.

"What is that?" Pitch asked. Silver smiled back at him and held the jar up to look at the little shadow-man that sat hunched against the side of the jar. Silver pulled at the twine and wax that held the top of the jar together and Death shrank again, as if he could escape by dissolving into the chair. The top of the jar popped off and fell to the floor, the noise of it bouncing echoed in the now silent room. Even Jack, who was hanging on one of the higher shelves, stopped to watch what Silver was doing.

Silver put her hand in the jar and Death finally spoke as she chased the little shadow-man around the jar.

"Don't touch him," Death said sounding panicked. Silver ignored him. "You don't know what you're doing!" Death said more urgently. Silver had caught the little shadow-man and brought him out of the jar.

"I don't have to know what I'm doing to know it's what I ought to do," Silver said bringing the shadow-man to her lips. She kissed the figure and it seemed to spark before it turned into a ball of black that moved like a sort of dark energy. Only it was warm and good and not evil like the body before her.

"Don't…" Death pleaded one last time. Silver held her hands out to Death, the odd energy clutched carefully between them.

"Take it," Silver told him. Death's eyes darted from Silver's face to the orb in her hands.

"I…" Death stammered. "I can't." He looked at her pleadingly. "I can't." He said again as if repeating himself would convey more meaning. Silver smiled kindly at him.

"Of course you can," Silver assured him, moving a step closer to him. She was easily within his reach now, but he seemed to shrink back even further in his chair. "And do you know why?" Silver asked. Death's eyes darted around the room and back to her face again, looking for a way out.

"Why?" He asked, not even trying to hide his fear from her anymore.

"Because I forgive you," Silver smiled easily at him. "Now take it and be whole again," Death reached out, but his hand stopped an inch away. "Go on." Silver urged. Death sighed, as if he'd given up, and touched the orb in Silver's hands. The orb shifted shape back into the little shadow-man and ran up Death's arm, jumping into his mouth. Death looked more frightened for a moment before his eyes closed as his soul spread out, back into its original position. Death jerked once, then looked as though he was asleep.

"What did you do?" Pitch asked.

"I gave him his soul back," Silver smiled at Pitch and stumbled when she went to take a step back. The white nightmare snorted at her, to tell her she could lean on him. "I think Pitch has me this time." Silver said patting the nightmare's nose before taking Pitch's unoffered arm.

"What did it do to him?" Pitch asked walking Silver over to the far wall where Jack was still looking for Silver's jar.

"I'm not sure, but he'll feel better once he wakes up. I think he's been without his soul for too long." Silver leaned her head against Pitch's shoulder. "I think I'm beginning to know the feeling."

"Did you find it yet?" Pitch asked up to Jack. Jack shook his head.

"Nope. Nothing silver yet." He shouted back. "Wanna look on the other shelves?" Pitch just nodded and walked with Silver over to the other shelves. Silver stood and looked at the lowest shelves as Pitch looked at the slightly higher shelves. Neither of them saw anything that looked like Silver's soul.

"Are there more jars somewhere?" Jack asked landing next to Silver. Silver shrugged.

"There are millions more." Death spoke from behind them. The three turned in unison. Death looked warmer, less, well, dead really. "But Silver's is here." He reached into his pocket and pulled another jar out. The light inside was sitting at the bottom of the jar, trying to flutter around, but it didn't seem to have the strength. "Take it," Death said. Jack moved first, taking the jar from Death and bringing it to Silver, who stood with Pitch against the wall.

"Thank you," Silver said, to both Jack and Death.

"I'm sorry…" Death said standing. "I… I don't know what I was thinking." Death frowned. "No, that's not true. I knew exactly what I was doing."

"You don't need to apologize," Silver said pulling the string from the top of her jar with a small smile. "I already forgave you," The lid fell to the floor.

"I don't know why you forgave me." Death said. He was leaning on a walking cane made of black shiny wood with a skull on top. "You know I don't deserve it."

"That's where you're wrong, Death," Silver reached her hand into the jar. "Everyone deserves to be forgiven. Even when they do terrible, terrible things. I don't blame you for what you did to me. I don't think it was the right choice though either," Silver had the light in her hand and it transformed into the little soft warm lamb. She smiled at it and she could feel Pitch staring. "But I think, if you try, and if you even want too, that you could make it up to me someday. That maybe, we could be friends one day too. Maybe not in a thousand years, but one day." Silver set the jar down on the floor. "After all, we all seem to have a lot of time on our hands." Silver smiled again and brought the lamb to her lips for a kiss. The lamb flashed and disappeared.

Pitch caught Silver when her legs gave out.


	15. Chapter Fourteen (The End)

**Chapter Fourteen: Ending**

When Silver awoke, she felt as though nothing had happened and for an absurd moment she thought that maybe nothing had. She was in bed, back in the caves, with the blankets covering her up to her chin. Silver sat up and peered into the dark, suddenly frightened because she was alone.

"Pitch?" She asked the shadows. Relief flooded her as her nightmare's face dissolved from the gloom.

"How are you feeling?" Pitch asked standing across from her. Silver drew her knees up to her chest and rested her head on her knees.

"I feel fine actually, a little tired still," She said, but her hair wasn't showing happiness as it normally did. Pitch frowned at her.

"Then what's wrong?" He took a step closer to her. She half-smiled.

"I don't feel like it was real," Silver said wrinkling her nose at Pitch. "Did Jack leave?" Pitch nodded. Silver smiled a little brighter at him. "Will you sit with me for a while?" She asked in a small voice. Pitch dissolved and moved to sit beside her with his long arms around her. Silver rested her head against him and sighed.

"I'm sorry," Pitch said taking her hand in his, holding it up so that he could look at her brightness against his darkness.

"For what?" Silver asked, watching too.

"I wasn't able to protect you," Pitch admitted. Silver frowned.

"But you saved me," She said, looking up at her nightmare.

"Death should never have gotten a hold of you," Pitch replied, closing his long fingers around her hand. Silver shook her head.

"I followed the skeleton man. That wasn't your fault." Silver said, looking up at him. "It was my fault too." Silver moved so that she was sitting on Pitch's lap and facing him.

"I said I would protect you," Pitch said again. Silver smiled at him now, as if she held some secret.

"But I'm ok now. Everything's ok," She kissed him briefly and when she sat back he could only look at her with his eyes wide. "What?"

"I just realized how beautiful you are in the dark," Pitch said with a debonair sort of smile. Silver giggled a little.

"I could've told you that," Silver snorted, half sarcastic. Pitch grinned a little darker, placing his hands firmly on her hips.

"Well, do you want to know what I'm going to do about it?" Pitch said adjusting Silver on his lap.

"I have the feeling I do," Silver replied candidly.

"No," Pitch said with a slack sort of devious smile, "I don't believe you do." He swung her over and in one smooth motion she was pinned beneath him. Silver giggled before he covered her mouth with his.

Pitch was just glad that he had her back.

"I love you Pitch," Silver said, pressing her forehead against Pitch's as he wrapped his arms around her waist. Silver's hair danced around her face and his. "I need you to know that," Silver was thinking about how she had thought she'd lost him. She wanted to be sure that if anything did actually happen to him, he'd know for sure that he was loved. Silver knew how hard he wished to be loved, even if he would never admit to it.

Pitch made a humming noise in his throat that sounded like pleasure. He so enjoyed it when she told him that she loved him, but as she kept them apart with pressure on his forehead, he realized there was a fear she never wanted him to see. He knew she was afraid that he'd never say he loved her back.

"I love you too, Silver," Pitch said. Silver's hair froze in surprise, wondering if she'd accidentally said something out loud. Pitch smirked. "Don't you ever fear I don't love you again. I fought Death for you, I reconciled with an old foe for you, and all that time ago, when you were Cally all alone in the dark, I watched you grow to love that darkness and my nightmares, something I never even dreamed was possible. I fell in love with you long before you ever knew my name," Silver felt something cold melt in the back of her heart as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"I never asked for you to love me," Silver said and Pitch just laughed at the absurdity of her. She was not the kind of person to ask for love, but instead the kind who attract it and gave it mercilessly. Silver was love inside and out and Pitch wondered if she hadn't realized that yet.

"I never asked for you to love me either," He said as he kissed her again and again.

Pitch realized then, for maybe the first time, that darkness was nothing without light.

 **The End**


End file.
